N Korea military test-fire short range missiles

SEOUL - Agence France-Presse

In this March 7, 2013 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and distributed March 8, 2013 by the Korea News Service, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, uses binoculars to look at the South's territory from an observation post at the military unit on Jangjae islet, located in the southernmost part of the southwestern sector of North Korea's border with South Korea. AP Photo/KCNA via KNS

North Korea's military fired short-range missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Friday, Yonhap reported, at a time of heightened tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test.

A single unit of the North's military test-fired the missiles presumed to be KN-02, estimated to have a range of about 120 kilometres, the report said.

"The launch was seen as testing its capability for short-range missiles. It seemed to be conducted on a military-unit level, not at a national level," said a military source in Seoul cited by the South Korean news agency.

The tests came a day after North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a live-fire artillery drill near the disputed Yellow Sea border with South Korea, as the South's prime minister visited the flashpoint area.
 
The area has witnessed bloody North-South clashes in the past and, with military tensions at their highest level for years, is seen as the prime location for another confrontation.
 
Kim made an inspection tour of the same artillery units last week that was widely covered by state TV and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
 
North Korea has threatened to unleash a second Korean War -- backed by nuclear weapons -- in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test in February and joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres.

So far, the land and sea border dividing the two Koreas has remained calm, if tense, and the South has dismissed the North's threats as a crude attempt to put "psychological pressure" on Seoul.