ROK sees DPRK's missile launch as armed protest

DPRK launches two short-range missiles

SEOUL - Republic of Korea(ROK)'s Defense Ministry said Monday that a volley of missile launches by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was seen as an armed protest against the joint annual military drills between Seoul and Washington.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing that the DPRK fired off 25 rockets Sunday evening toward waters off the east coast, saying that it was believed to be a show of force and an armed protest against the joint annual war games between ROK and the United States.

The "Key Resolve" command post exercise, which began on Feb 24, ended on March 6, but the "Foal Eagle" field training exercise will last until April 18 despite the DPRK's earlier call for delay or cancellation of the drills, which Pyongyang has denounced as the rehearsal for a northward invasion.

Kim said that the rockets, launched Sunday, were believed to be the FROG surface-to-surface missiles, noting the ROK's military had knowledge about trajectory of the missiles adopted by the DPRK a long time ago. The DPRK was known to have introduced the FROG missiles from the Soviet Union from the 1960s.

The spokesman urged Pyongyang to refrain from raising military tensions any more, saying that the military has strengthened surveillance toward possibly additional missile launches.

The missile launches came 12 days after Pyongyang fired off seven projectiles, estimated to be artillery shells fired from the DPRK's new multiple rocket launcher termed by the ROK's military as KN-09.