North Korea fires ballistic missiles into sea

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea fired two missiles into waters east of the peninsula Thursday, according to South Korea's military -- marking the latest in a series of provocations by the reclusive state this year alone.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that the ballistic projectiles were blasted from inland near the inter-Korean border shortly before 5.30 a.m. (2030GMT Wednesday), before landing around 500 kilometers (310 miles) eastward.

North Korea was hit by strengthened United Nations sanctions last week in response to its recent fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Hours after the UN measures were announced, Pyongyang fired six short-range missiles in what appeared to be a show of dissatisfaction with the international community -- the United States and South Korea in particular.

The allies began their largest ever annual military drills Monday, but even in previous years the North has accused Seoul and Washington of plotting a resumption of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Inter-Korean relations, already minimal, were severed last month when the South pulled its businesses out of the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex.

North Korea said Thursday that it would be liquidating South Korean assets that were being held at the complex just north of the border.

"From this moment, we will view all agreements which the two Koreas have made on economic cooperation and exchanges as invalid," local media quoted a spokesperson for the North's committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs as insisting.