Early Edition 18:00 North Korea fires seven additional short-range projectiles into East Sea
Title: North Korea fires seven additional short-range projectiles into East Sea In the latest provocation in about a week,... North Korea fired off multiple short-range rockets into the East Sea this afternoon. For more we connect live to our Yoo Li-an. Li-an, what do we know so far? Good evening. Starting at around 4:30 this afternoon, North Korea fired four short-range projectiles using a multiple rocket launcher into the East Sea, this according to Seoul's defense ministry. These missiles have a range of about 155 kilometers. Given that we have been receiving reports of additional launches within the hour,.. the number could very well go up in the coming hours. Now immediately following reports of these short-range projectile launches,... we were also notified that North Korea had already fired three short-range missiles into the East Sea earlier this morning,... bringing the total of missiles launched just today to seven. The ones fired in the morning flew about 55 kilometers in a northeasterly direction. These launches are the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang. As you may remember, Conn-young, Pyongyang fired fired four short-range missiles into its eastern waters last Thursday,... a move that was seemingly in protest of the ongoing joint South Korea-U.S. military drills. And then yesterday morning,... Pyongyang fired two more Scud-C short-range missiles into the East Sea,... and the latest of course are the seven fired today. Li-an, do we have any idea about the reason behind the sudden increase in the number of missile and rocket launches? Well it's all speculation at this point, but North Korea did call out the United States earlier today for deploying its nuclear-powered submarine for the ongoing joint military drills with South Korea,... calling it "a provocation for a nuclear war against the communist country." The USS Columbus arrived in Korea's southernmost port city of Busan on Monday along with U.S. command ships to participate in the annual drill. Calling the move an overt threat to its Korea, North Korea's main Internet based propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri called the move part of "concrete steps to invade the North." So harsh words coming from North Korea in regards to joint military drills,... and the firing of the mulitiple ballistic missiles. Experts have repeatedly linked the launches to North Korea's protest against the military drills and the launches today seem to be in line with that as well. Thanks, Li-an. We will bring you more updates in our later newscasts. Title: President Park urges efforts toward regular family reunions The reunions of families separated by the Korean War last month highlighted the fact that while a select few were granted the opportunity to meet with long-lost loved ones, there are about 71-thousand South Koreans still waiting for the same chance. President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called for all-out efforts to make sure they get it. Our presidential correspondent Choi You-sun reports. Just days after proposing to North Korea that reunions for war-separated families be held on a regular basis, President Park Geun-hye called for other ways for the family members on both sides of the border to resume contact. "I urge the unification ministry and the Red Cross to negotiate with North Korea, not only about making family reunions a regular event, but to also help the families confirm whether their relatives are dead or alive, and to allow cross-border exchanges of letters and video conference calls." At Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, the South Korean leader highlighted the urgency of holding more of the humanitarian events.
