North Korea Fires Three Ballistic Missiles Off Eastern Coast

By VOA News September 05, 2016

South Korea's military says North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles into the waters off its eastern coast.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement Monday saying the missiles were fired from the North's Hwanghae province around midday local time. South Korea's Yonhap news agency says it is unknown what type of missiles were fired, and how far they traveled.

Monday's missile firings come as world leaders met in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the two-day summit of G-20 of advanced and emerging economies. South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the summit just hours before the missile launches.

According to Yonhap, President Park warned the Chinese leader that Pyongyang's increasing provocations, including a series of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, have "seriously undermined peace in this region and posed a challenge" to Seoul-Beijing relations.

Meanwhile, China's Xinhua news agency says President Xi told his South Korean counterpart that Beijing opposes deployment of the U.S.-built THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile system in South Korea. Seoul says the THAAD system is aimed at countering possible missile attacks from North Korea.