North Korea launches two projectiles into sea

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- North Korea launched two projectiles into the sea late Thursday afternoon, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced in a statement.

The projectiles were fired towards the East Sea at around 4:59 p.m. from South Hamgyong Province, located on the east coast of North Korea, according to a report by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS statement said.

No other details about the projectiles were immediately available.

The launches came days after North Korean state media reported that its military forces held a live artillery firing drill near a disputed maritime border with the South, a move which appears to have been a violation of a September agreement between Pyongyang and Seoul.

Thursday's moves were the latest in a series of missile and rocket tests by North Korea in 2019, beginning after a February summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un concluded abruptly without an agreement.

Among the new weapons North Korea has tested this year are its version of the Russian Iskander short-range ballistic missile and the country's first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

Nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea remain at a stalemate and Pyongyang has issued a deadline by the end of the year for Washington to come forward with a new approach.

"The U.S. should not dream of the negotiations for denuclearization before dropping its hostile policy," Kim Yong-chol, a North Korean senior official, said last week.