North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Sunday, just three days after it raised military tension by launching three short-range rockets into the sea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

“North Korea fired what appeared to be Scud missiles at 4:50 a.m. and 4:58 a.m. from its eastern coastal city of Wonsan, in the North’s Gangwon Province,” the JCS said. “The missiles are analyzed as having a range of about 500 km.”
 

Stressing that South Korea was strengthening its readiness posture to counter additional provocations, the JCS added that the firing came again without any prior declaration of a no-fly/no-sail zone.

The launch of the missiles came just four days before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits South Korea for summit talks with President Park Geun-hye. Analysts say that the launch appears to be designed to draw international attention toward Pyongyang.

Pyongyang fired short-range projectiles a total of 11 times this year. Most of the launches took place in February and March in an angry response to the South Korea-U.S. military exercise, which the North argues is a rehearsal for a “nuclear war of invasion.”

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)