North Launches Six Missiles Into East Sea or Sea of Japan: S. Korea

South Korea’s defense ministry said Thursday that North Korea has launched six short-range missiles to the direction of the Sea of Japan or also known as East Sea.

"Six missiles presumably of 300mm caliber were launched at ten in the morning on Thursday from the vicinity of the city of Wonsan, a home to a large naval base," defense ministry spokesman, Moon Sang-gyun, was quoted as saying by TASS. "All fell into the Sea of Japan/East Sea having covered a distance of from 100 to 150 kilometers".

The spokesman said the South Korean side continues to analyze the situation and will make public more details later.

According to the report, the news comes hours after the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed resolution 2270 on tougher sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for Pyongyang’s tests of nuclear weapons and the use of a ballistic missile to launch a satellite. The resolution passed is to ban importing coal, iron ore, titanium, vanadium and other precious metals from the DPRK and an embargo on delivery of aviation and rocket fuel to the country.

The North Korean authorities announced on February 7 that they had launched a carrier rocket with the satellite Kwanmenson (the Bright Star). A month before the launch, Pyongyang held the fourth underground nuclear test over the past ten years.