Kim Jong-un’s sister issues ‘firing range’ warning before another missile launch

‘The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces’ action character’, she said (Picture: AP)

North Korea has launched two more ballistic missiles, as Kim Jong-un’s sister warned her nation will use the Pacific ‘as our firing range’ if the US continues military drills.

Two projectiles were fired from a multiple rocket launcher on Monday morning, landing into the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The latest tense development came shortly after Kim Yo-Jong, 39, cautioned ‘the worst maniacs escalating the tensions will pay the price for their action’.

An emergency UN Security Council meeting has been planned following the test, with Japan’s defence ministry condemning the ‘grave provocation’ alongside South Korea.

State media in North Korea has confirmed the country was aiming at targets 395 km (245 miles) and 337 km (209 miles) away. They reached a maximum altitude of about 100 km and 50 km.

‘The 600mm multiple rocket launcher mobilised in the firing… is a means of tactical nuclear weapon,’ capable of ‘paralysing’ an enemy airfield, KCNA said.

It comes two days after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the sea off Japan’s west coast – leading the US to hold separate air exercises with South Korea and Japan.

This move sparked a warning from the North Korean leader’s sister, politician Kim Yo-Jong, 35, who has demanded the drills be halted.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward Japan on Monday in its second weapons test in three days (Picture: AP)

Kim Yo-Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, cautioned ‘the worst maniacs escalating the tensions will pay the price for their action’ (Picture: AP)

The missiles were fired off the country’s east coast (Picture: AP)

‘The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces’ action character’, she cautioned in a statement given to KCNA.

South Korea and the US were ‘openly showing their dangerous greed’ and are ‘attempting to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula’, she claimed.

Yo-Jong added: ‘I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us.

‘There is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action.

‘We are carefully examining the influence (the military drills) would exert on the security of our state.’

Some South Korean experts previously questioned the reliability of the ICBM capability on Saturday, claiming the ‘sudden’ test needed nine hours of preparation.

But Yo-Jong has named them ‘disgusting’ and ‘stupid’, insisting the launch took place ‘at the most appropriate time’.

The test-firing of what North Korea says is a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022 (Picture: AP)

‘They had better rack their brains to take measures to defend themselves, instead of doubting or worrying about other’s technology’, she said. 

North Korea’s most recent missile launch is the third known weapons test this year.

It comes after an unprecedented showcase of its arsenal in 2022.

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‘There is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action’, she has said.