North Korea Reports Firing Off 18 Missiles After South Korea, Japan Report Launches

18 different ballistic missiles were fired at once, which North Korea said shows that the country, “will not hesitate to carry out a preemptive attack by invoking the right to self-defense”.

PYONGYANG - North Korea has reported firing off 18 600-millimeter "Multiple Rocket Sub-Units" a day after South Korea and Japan reported Pyongyang had fired at least a dozen short-range ballistic missiles.

Photo: KCNA

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Although North Korea called the missiles fired a “salvo” without reporting how many there were, photos the country’s state media posted show 18 different ballistic missiles being fired at once, which the North said shows that the country, “will not hesitate to carry out a preemptive attack by invoking the right to self-defense”.

A statement released by North Korean state media said that South Korea “Committed a hideous act of infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK that can never be overlooked by staging a clumsy counteraction of [a] dangerous armed demonstration against the exercise of [the] legitimate sovereign right of the DPRK,” using the formal name for North Korea “DPRK” which stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Photo: KCNA

The statement went on to say, “In this regard, the super-large multiple rocket sub-units conducted the power demonstration firing aiming at them for ensuring the sovereignty and security of the state with powerful and overwhelming means of war and clearly showing the DPRK's corresponding will not to hesitate to carry out a preemptive attack by invoking the right to self-defense at any time when the enemies attempt to use military force against the DPRK.”

It then said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave the order to organize the “power demonstration firing” directly, and said that the leader “guided it on the spot”.

South Korea and Japan Reported On The Launch, The Number Of Launches Were Uncertain. North: Launches Retaliatory In Nature: