N Korea 'fires three short-range missiles'

North Korea has fired three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea's defence ministry said.

Two missiles were fired on Saturday morning and one in the afternoon, the ministry said in a statement.


Officials at the ministry said they were "monitoring the situation and remain on alert".

Tensions were high last month amid threats from North Korea to attack Japanese, South Korean and US military targets in the region and restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that produced plutonium for its weapons programme.

Pyongyang also shut down an emergency military hotline with South Korea, and withdrew some 53,000 workers from the Kaesong factory zone on its border with South Korea.

The threats followed tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea in March after its third nuclear test, as well as annual US-South Korea military drills that saw nuclear-capable B2 and B52 bombers flown over the Korean peninsula.
Source: BBC Posted by Unknown 5/18/2013