DPRK top leader oversees missile launches

Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has overseen a tactical rocket firing drill of the DPRK military, the official KCNA news agency reported on Monday.

The DPRK has launched precision guided missiles and fired shells with dispersion effect for striking both individual and group targets of the enemy in the drill, said the KCNA.

The DPRK media also said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the firing, asking the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army to further Juche-oriented rocket technology.

"Durable peace can be protected only when one is so strong that nobody dares provoke," said Kim, who oversaw the latest two missile tests.

The drill "had no slight impact" on "regional peace and security, international navigation order and ecological environment," according to the report.

South Korea said the DPRK fired two Scud missiles ranging about 500 km into its east waters at around 5:00 a.m. local time on Sunday (2000 GMT Saturday), one day after the country launched three short-range projectiles into the waters off its east coast, which flew about 190 km and landed in the sea.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been running high for months, with each accusing the other of provocations. In March, the two sides traded hundreds of shells across the border off the west coast.

The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The launch was part of "routine military exercise" and that it had no effect on planned governmental talks with Japan on Tuesday in Beijing, a DPRK Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by Japanese media.

However, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters earlier that Japan wanted to raise the issue during the talks with the DPRK over the abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We must make a firm demand toward North Korea (the DPRK) that they follow the UN Security council resolution and other agreements," he said.