North Korea

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff has said it detected "multiple" missile launches from the North's eastern city of Hamhung on Wednesday morning, reports Yonhap News Agency. We believe four (missiles were fired)," the Minister said during a session of the National Assembly's committee on national defence. We have conducted the initial analysis.

On Friday, the US co-hosted an informal meeting highlighting the human rights violations in the reclusive nation at the UNSC. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the North's recent test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile as a violation of UNSC resolutions on the same day, Yonhap news agency reported.

The drills took place in skies over the Korean Peninsula as part of the Freedom Shield exercise that has been under way since March 13, and also involved F-35A stealth fighter jets of South Korea and US F-16 fighters, the Ministry said. A B-1B bomber was previously deployed to the peninsula on March 3, Yonhap news agency reported.

A Hwasongpho-17 was launched on Thursday from the Pyongyang International Airport, climbing up to a maximum altitude of 6,045 km and flying a distance of some 1,000 km before accurately landing on a preset area in the open waters off the eastern coast, the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"Kim Jong-un is the leader of North Korea. So as the leader, the buck stops at the top," Linda Thomas-Greenfield stressed during an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency on Friday (local time) at the U.N. headquarters after co-hosting the panel's Arria-formula meeting on the human rights situation in the reclusive nation.

South Korean's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 7.10 a.m., and the missile, fired at a lofted angle, flew some 1,000 km before hitting the waters, reports Yonhap NewsAgency. A month earlier, the North test-fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

A missile unit of the military launched the missiles "in a medium-range system" on Tuesday in Jangyon, South Hwanghae province, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). South Korea's military said on Tuesday that the North fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Jangyon area toward the East Sea, a day after Seoul and Washington kicked off a regular joint military exercise.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Jangyon area in South Hwanghae Province between 7.41 a.m. and 7.51 a.m., and they flew some 620 km, reports Yonhap News Agency. The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US are conducting a comprehensive analysis of the specifics of the missiles, according to the JCS.

In a statement, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry denounced the drills and slammed the US for plans to criticize Pyongyang for its human rights record. The statement warned of North Korea’s readiness “to mercilessly punish the U.S. imperialists totally denying the sovereignty of our state and its socialist system and thus make them pay dearly without fail.”

Led by the allies' Deterrence Strategy Committee, the discussion-based table-top exercise (TTX) is set to take place Wednesday (local time), according to the ministry, Yonhap News Agency reported. The following day, TTX participants plan to visit the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, a southeastern coastal base home to key nuclear submarines, in what would be a show of America's naval heft.