SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea launched ballistic missiles on Sunday, the day the leader of rival South Korea starts a state visit to China, Pyongyang’s chief ally, and just hours after the U.S. attacked Venezuela.
The firings of at least two missiles, the country’s first in two months, further heighten global tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump launched an assault in Venezuela in which President Nicolas Maduro was captured.
North Korea strongly denounced the U.S. action, saying Washington “wildly violated the sovereignty of Venezuela” and the act shows “the rogue and brutal nature of the U.S.”
The North launched its missiles hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung began a state visit to China on Sunday in the hope of promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula during a summit with his counterpart Xi Jinping.
The launches from the capital Pyongyang into the sea between the Koreas and Japan represent “a message to China to deter closer ties with South Korea and to counter China’s stance on denuclearization”, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.
