South Korea's military saw the unidentified projectiles fired last week by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as short-range ballistic missiles which UN Security Council resolutions ban the DPRK from test-firing.
An unnamed South Korean military official was quoted by local media outlets as saying Monday that the projectiles were highly likely to have been short-range ballistic missiles based on the joint analysis result by the militaries of South Korea and the United States.
Pyongyang on Saturday test-launched three short-range projectiles into its eastern waters from Gitdaeryong in the country's southeastern region.
Two of the three projectiles flew about 250 km, but the remaining one exploded in the air right after taking off.
The presidential Blue House initially said the DPRK projectiles were estimated to have been artillery shells launched by improved 300-mm multiple rocket launchers.
The South Korean military official was quoted as saying further details on the type of missile and its capability were currently under analysis.
The DPRK missile launch came amid the ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint annual war game, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which kicked off last Monday. It would last until Thursday.
The computerized command post military exercise has been denounced by Pyongyang as a rehearsal for northward invasion.
Some of peace activists here claimed that the annual South Korea-U.S. war games should be suspended in exchange for the halt of the DPRK's missile and nuclear launches to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
