North Korea launches two missiles as South Korea and US military exercises begin

Foreign ministry condemns ‘simulated war practice’ and asserts right to ‘develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defence’

Anti-war activists protest in Seoul against planned US-South Korea military exercises (AFP)

North Korea has fired two more unidentified projectiles into the sea while criticising the US and South Korea for continuing joint military exercises.

In the fourth set of missile tests in the last two weeks, rockets were fired from an area near the western coast of the country on Tuesday.

The launches were confirmed by South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff minutes before the North’s foreign ministry released a statement denouncing Washington and Seoul for the drills, which it sees as an invasion rehearsal.

A spokesperson said North Korea felt ”compelled to develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defence”.

“Constructive dialogue cannot be expected at a time when a simulated war practice targetted at the dialogue partner is being conducted,” the statement continued.

“We remain unchanged in our stand to resolve the issues through dialogue. But the dynamics of dialogue will be more invisible as long as the hostile military moves continue.”

South Korea’s defense minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told a parliamentary hearing on Monday that the drills have begun but did not provide specific details. The exercises were expected to be computer simulated and not involve actual combat troops and equipment.

A spokesman for the US Department of Defense said they will “continue to monitor the situation and are consulting closely with our South Korean and Japanese allies”.

Donald Trump, who had agreed to resume working-level nuclear talks when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on 30 June, has so far played down the tests by saying they did not break any agreement.

North Korea conducted a short-range ballistic launch on 25 July, which it described as a “solemn warning” to South Korea over its plans to continue military drills with the United States.

Last week it carried out what it described as a test firing of a new multiple rocket launcher system. North Korea’s state media said it was personally supervised by leader Kim Jong-un.

Experts claim the country is using sophisticated cyberattacks to illegally raise money to fund its weapons of mass destruction programmes.

In a new report to the UN Security Council, a panel monitoring sanctions on the regime say that the total proceeds so far are up to $2bn (£1.6bn).

According to the report’s summary, North Korea is using cyber means “to illegally force the transfer of funds from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, launder stolen proceeds, and generate income in evasion of financial sanctions”.

Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press