SEOUL, Sept 13 (Reuters) - North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Japanese Coast Guard said on Wednesday, just hours before leader Kim Jong Un was expected to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia.
It was the first such launch to occur while Kim was abroad for a rare trip, analysts said.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that Japan had lodged a protest against North Korea through diplomatic channels in Beijing.
The nuclear-armed North has conducted regular launches of everything from short-range and cruise missiles to massive intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike the continental United States.
In 2018 and 2019 he visited China, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and Russia in nine separate trips, but his current visit in Russia is the first since then.
Persons:
Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Kim, Hirokazu Matsuno, Kim didn’t, Soo, hyang Choi, Josh Smith, Komiya, Chang, Ran Kim, Tom Hogue, Christian Schmollinger, Gerry Doyle
Organizations:
South Korea's, Chiefs, Staff, Japanese Coast Guard, Japan's Coast Guard, North, United Nations, Thomson
Locations:
SEOUL, North Korea, South, Russia, Japan, Beijing, United States, China, Moscow, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Seoul, Tokyo