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a Soviet prototype of the North Korean KN-02 missile. North Korea launched an undetermined projectile into the East Sea on May 17-18. (News1)

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

For the second day in a row, North Korea lobbed short-range projectiles into the East Sea. On May 19, the South Korean Ministry of Defense announced that North Korea had shot off another short-range missile northeast over the East Sea that afternoon, following its missile launch on May 18. The previous day, North Korea had shot three missiles altogether two in the morning, and one in the afternoon toward the northeast. The ROK military has tentatively concluded that the projectiles could have been KN-02 short-range missiles or rockets with a caliber larger than 300mm and a similar trajectory.

The reaction offered by South Korea and the international community to North Korea‘s consecutive missile launches has been calm and restrained. The Blue House defined North Korea’s launch of the missiles as “a provocative action” on May 19 and did not convene the National Security Council. The situation was monitored in the National Security Room, the control tower.

Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson for the US National Security Council (NSC), released a statement that did no more than urge North Korea to heed US President Barack Obama’s call for it to abide by its obligations to the international community and to choose the path of peace.

Japanese media, which is usually very sensitive to North Korean missile launches in the East Sea, issued a measured response. The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper observed that North Korea has carried out a series of test launches of its short-range missiles, and that this launch was part of that series.

The primary reason that the international community is not too alarmed about this missile launch is that it is not connected with nuclear weapons and also that it does not represent a threat to the US or Japan.

The ROK military believes that the missiles launched were the short-range KN-02, which have a maximum range of 120km. The missile can only carry a payload of up to 485kg, and US and South Korean military officials do not believe that North Korea is capable of manufacturing a nuclear warhead that is light and small enough to be mounted on this missile.

Previously, when North Korea deployed Musudan and Nodong missiles near the port of Wonsan on the East Sea in April, the US, South Korea, and Japan heightened their vigilance, dispatching Aegis-equipped vessels and deploying the SBX-1 sea-based X-band radar. The Musudan, which has a range of 3,000-4,000km, is capable of hitting the US island of Guam, while the Nodong, with a range of 1,300 km, can strike any point in Japan.

“According to the resolution passed by the UN Security Council (UNSC), North Korea is not permitted to launch any projectile that implements ballistic missile technology,” said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The fact that North Korea has shot off missiles of this caliber would not justify the imposition of additional sanctions.” North Korea also launched short-range missiles on Feb. 10 and Mar. 15.

There are also indications that North Korea made an effort not to provoke the other countries in the region.

North Korea ratcheted up tensions in the area by keeping Musudan missiles on launch pads near its east coast throughout April. Nevertheless, it did not launch these short-range missiles until the completion of the US-ROK summit meetings on May 7, the visit of the US State Department’s Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies to South Korea, Japan, and China from May 13-18, and the trip that Isao Iijima, Japanese Cabinet Secretariat Advisor, made to North Korea on May 14-18. North Korea’s action is being seen as an attempt to attract the attention of the world without creating conflict with countries in the region.

“North Korea has carried out missile launches of this sort on numerous occasions in the past,” said Kim Jong-dae, editor of Defense 21+. “Even North Korea doesn’t expect that it will not gain any concessions from countries in the region through this missile launch.”

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