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April 17 (UPI) -- North Korea fired a pair of short-range missiles off of its eastern coast, South Korea's military said Sunday. The missiles were fired from the city of Hamhung at about 6 p.m. Saturday and traveled 62 miles South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to Bloomberg.
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South Korea's National Security Office, military and intelligence agencies held an emergency meeting to discuss the launch, the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Yonhap News Agency.
North Korean State News Agency KCNA reported earlier that leader Kim Jong-un had supervised the successful launch of a "new type of tactical guided weapon" with the goal of helping North Korea improve its "efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes."
Joseph Dempsey, a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the weapon "outwardly resembles" North Korea's KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles.
"The use of a wheeled quad launcher indicates a smaller, lighter and likely shorter-range missile," said Dempsey.
The launch comes on the heels of a celebration for the 110th birthday of North Korea's founder and Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, that was marked by parades and mass celebrations.
The South Korean military also said Sunday it plans to conduct nine-day joint military exercises with the United States beginning Monday, which North Korea denounced as fueling tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
