North Korea made two failed attempts at launching intermediate-range ballistic missiles Thursday, South Korean defense officials said, the latest in a string of nuclear and missile tests designed to display Pyongyang's military muscle.
South Korean military officials said both missiles failed to launch, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. Strategic Command said it detected and tracked two attempted launches about 12 hours apart. The launches "did not pose a threat to North America," the command said in a statement. It added that U.S. military personnel remain "vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and are fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security."
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said the North has been testing Musudan missiles in recent weeks and launched a missile April 15 that exploded a few seconds after liftoff. That launch was apparently timed to coincide with the 104th anniversary of the birthday of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder.
All the launches come ahead of a major meeting of Pyongyang's ruling Workers’ Party next week.
North Korea is believed to have deployed about 50 Musudan missiles across the nation in the last decade, Yonhap said.
A Musudan, or BM-25, is believed to be capable of traveling 2,500 miles, conceivably posing a threat to South Korea, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.
On Tuesday, South Korean officials said the North was preparing another mid-range missile test and could also conduct a fifth nuclear test.
On Saturday, the North claimed it successfully fired a ballistic missile from a submarine for the first time. The North's Korean Central News Agency gave the submarine launch major play on its English-language website. Thursday's ballistic missile test was not mentioned on the KCNA website.
A series of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang in recent months have raised tensions in the region and brought tighter international sanctions on the North. Pyongyang in turn has blamed South Korea and the U.S. for those tensions, citing joint military exercises involving hundreds of thousands of military personnel.
Contributing: John Bacon
