North Korea releases images of 6 August missile launches

Images released by North Korea’s state-run media on 7 August show that the two missiles the country launched on 6 August were of the same type as the road-mobile short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) it test-fired on 25 July, as well as on 9 and 4 May.

North Korea test-launched the same type of road-mobile SRBM on 6 August that it had tested on 25 July and twice in May. (KCNA)

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the “new-type tactical guided missiles” were launched from “an operational airfield in the western area of the country, flied across the sky over the capital area and the central inland region of the country to precisely hit the targeted islet in the East Sea [Sea of Japan]”.

The KCNA also quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying that the latest test-firings, which “verified the reliability, security, and actual war capacity of the new-type tactical guided weapon system”, were “an occasion to send an adequate warning” against the joint US-South Korean military exercises that began on 5 August.

Pyongyang has repeatedly criticised joint US-South Korean drills, claiming that they are a “rehearsal for an invasion” of North Korea. On 26 July it also criticised the introduction of “ultramodern offensive weapons into South Korea”: a possible reference to Seoul’s procurement of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul had announced on 16 July that two more F-35As had arrived in the country from the United States. These were the third and fourth South Korean F-35As of 40 the country has on order (although it has an option to acquire 20 more).