N. Korean leader at nuclear forces missile exercises

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Sunday, the latest of a recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after it warned the redeployment of a US aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected two missile launches on Sunday between 1:48 am and 1:58 am from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon.

It added that South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the United States. North Korea’s pursuit of ability to fire missiles from a submarine would constitute an alarming development for its rivals because it’s harder to detect such launches in advance.

North Korea was believed to have last tested a missile launch from a submarine in May. The launch, the North’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks, came hours after the United States and South Korea wrapped up two days of naval drills off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.