NKorea fires another missile into open water: Seoul

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea launched a short-range missile Friday, according to Seoul officials, hours after South Korean President Park Geun-hye holding summit talks with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The surface-to-air projectile was fired around 100 kilometers into open water east of the peninsula shortly before 1 p.m. (0400GMT), the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said -- it was not a ballistic missile as first suspected.

Park and Xi met on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C., where they vowed to adhere to new United Nations sanctions imposed on the North for its fourth ever nuclear test earlier this year and subsequent long-range rocket launch.

Pyongyang has responded to the global attempt to squeeze its weapon ambitions by launching a series of missiles in recent weeks and intensifying aggressive threats aimed at Seoul and the United States.

Having been a longstanding North Korean ally and economic supporter, China has come under increasing pressure to let Pyongyang feel the weight of its disapproval of nuclear provocations.

Meanwhile, South Korea demanded Friday that the North stop jamming GPS signals, which Seoul claims have been affecting dozens of planes and ships.

The South sent out a warning the previous evening over local satellite navigation disruptions, which Pyongyang has allegedly also ordered in the past.

“North Korea is expected to continue to disrupt GPS signals in South Korea for a while in a bid to raise tensions on the peninsula,” defense ministry spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun told reporters.

Moon cautioned that Seoul would “make the North pay a due price” in case of any real damage.