28 July 2017

News Story: No sign of N. Korea's imminent missile firing yet - S. Korea

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Thursday there is no clear indication yet that another North Korean ballistic missile launch is near at hand amid reports of rain there.

"Currently, there's no sign of an imminent North Korean missile launch," Army Col. Roh Jae-cheon, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said at a press briefing. "Our military is continuing to closely monitor North Korea's every possible provocation, mobilizing combined surveillance assets with the United States."

Last week, the secretive North moved a truck-mounted transporter erector launcher (TEL) to the vicinity of Kusong near the country's northwestern coast, according to foreign media, which quoted unnamed Pentagon officials.

If confirmed, it portends another missile provocation by the North following the July 4 firing of an intercontinental range ballistic missile.

The North has often timed its strategic provocations with key political occasions.

On Thursday, the two Koreas mark the 64th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, although it has never been replaced by a formal peace treaty.

Read the full story at YonhapNews