Six days after that, it fired the KN-06 surface-to-air missile, which is called North Korea's Patriot missile.
"North Korea fired multiple unidentified projectiles, assumed to be surface-to-ship missiles, this morning from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon province", said a statement released by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) early on Thursday.The number of missiles fired is believed to be four. The type of missile was not immediately known, as is often the usual case.
Analysts say each launch, successful or not, improves missile technology and ultimately provides information that helps bring North Korea closer to its goal of building a missile that could reach the US.
However China adamantly opposes the THAAD regional deployment that could potentially give the USA the means to counter its missile capabilities as well.
Thursday's launch is the fourth missile test by the North since Moon took office on May 10 pledging to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang. It was the same area in the Sea of Japan that was patrolled by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson. While the new measures did not require a public Security Council vote, Washington insisted on a vote to intensify the pressure on North Korea. If the assessment is correct, Pyongyang appears to be testing one by one new weapons displayed at a parade to mark the 105th anniversary of its founder in April.
MAY 26: South Korea says it will allow a civic group to contact North Korea to help fight malaria in the first government approval of a cross-border civilian exchange since January 2016.
The Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system, or THAAD, was agreed to by the previous administration as a means to defend both South Korea and the USA troops based there from North Korean missile attack.
"These missiles only went 200 km, and their payload is probably maybe about 250 kg max", said Shea Cotton, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation in California, adding that this was only an estimate while awaiting further data. Washington has also been pressuring China to play a more constructive role in curbing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.
South Korea leader warns North Korea after latest missile launch
North Korea insists that, as a sovereign state, it has the right to pursue its own nuclear and missile programs. Under UN Security Council resolutions, Pyongyang is banned from testing any ballistic missile technology.
Last week, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that also landed in waters between South Korea and Japan, prompting protest from both Seoul and Tokyo.
An aide to South Korean President Moon Jae-in remarked on June 7 that no decision is likely to be made on the deployment of additional THAAD batteries in South Korea until a new environmental impact assessment is completed.
A senior government official in Seoul with knowledge of the May 29 test told the JoongAng Ilbo that Pyongyang had significantly enhanced its target capabilities by attaching a canard and optical equipment of some sort to the projectile, probably a camera or a laser.
Citing "great concern" about the North Korean missile threat, top brass from the Missile Defense Agency appealed to the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday to approve its $7.9-billion budget request.
North Korea has claimed it is developing a nuclear-tipped ICBM that could reach the continental United States.
It's an open secret that the Kim regime has the ambition to develop "carrier-killer" missiles.
Moon said he was willing to talk with Kim Jong-un, but under the condition that he halts any military provocation.
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