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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday nullified all agreements on economic cooperation and exchanges with South Korea, andfired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters in an apparent show of force against joint annual war games between Seoul and Washington and new harsher sanctions against Pyongyang
The official KCNA news agency andYonhap news agency reported Thursday.
Yonhap quoted the South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) as saying that two short-range ballistic missiles, believed to have been Scud missiles, were launched at 5:20 a.m. (2020 GMT Wednesday) from the North Hwanghae province in the DPRK's western region.
The missiles flew about 500 km and landed in waters northeast of the DPRK's coastal town of Wonsan in the East Sea.
It marked the first time in 2016 that DPRK forces fired short-range ballistic missiles. Pyongyang fired off six rounds of its 300-mm multiple rocket launchers into eastern waters on March 3.
The firings of short-range missiles and artillery shells in the past week were seen as an apparent show of anger at the joint U.S. -South Korea military exercises that kicked off on Monday in the largest-ever scale.
The drills, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, will run through April 30, mobilizing a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier and its attendant fleet, a nuclear-capable submarine and aerial tankers to refuel fighter jets.
All assets belonging to South Korean enterprises in the DPRK will be liquidated, the news agency said, citing a statement by a spokesman for the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
The statement said the plan was made in response to a series of unilateral sanctions unveiled Tuesday by Seoul on the DPRK after the UN Security Council voted to adopt a tough resolution against Pyongyang earlier this month.
According to the statement, the DPRK vows to take steps to "launch lethal political, military and economic strikes on the Park Geun-hye administration" of South Korea.
The DPRK will immediately launch attacks "in preemptive manners" once the enemies take action and now the military is only waiting for one order, the statement stressed.
The Park administration, which merely echoes the stance of the United States, should be held accountable for driving north-south relations to a new low, it added.
South Korea on Tuesday unveiled a package of new unilateral sanctions on the DPRK over its latest nuclear test and rocket launch.
The standalone sanctions include a ban on third-country ships that had stopped in the DPRK within the past 180 days from entering South Korean ports. Seoul added 30 entities and 40 individuals of the DPRK to the blacklist of those suspected of involvement in Pyongyang's development of weapons of mass destruction.
Seoul also decided to shut down the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone and Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Furthermore, restrictions will be tightened on the indirect export and import of DPRK products into South Korea, and South Koreans will be advised to refrain from visiting DPRK-run restaurants.
The U.S. show of military strength during the drills would come after the DPRK's latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.
DPRK started off a new year with the testing of what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and followed up with the launch of a long-range rocket, which outsiders see as a disguised test of missile technology, on Feb. 7.
The UN Security Council unanimously approved new tougher sanctions on Pyongyang on March 2, including a ban on all cargo heading to and from the DPRK and its exports of coal and mineral resources.
South Korea imposed standalone sanctions on the DPRK, including a ban on third-country ships having docked at the DPRK within 180 days from accessing South Korean ports.
The JCS was quoted as saying that South Korea's military was closely monitoring the moves of DPRK forces while maintaining defense readiness against any possible DPRK provocations.
