North Korea fires short-range projectiles

Seoul, June 26 (IANS) North Korea Thursday fired three short-range projectiles into its eastern waters, media reported.

The three projectiles, believed to be short-range missiles, were launched at around 4 p.m. Thursday from Wonsan area in the country's southeastern coast, where Pyongyang fired FROG surface-to-surface missiles in March, Xinhua reported.

North Korea had fired off 16 FROG short-range missiles from the Wonsan region March 23, a day after launching 30 such missiles from the same place.

On March 16, Pyongyang fired 25 more FROG missiles, which were brought from the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1960s.

Tensions are running high on the Korean peninsula after North Korea threatened a new form of nuclear test in late March. North Korea's third nuclear test was held in February 2013.

North Korea had fired some 90 short-range missiles in late February and March in protest against the joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.

The two Koreas exchanged artillery fire in the disputed western sea border May 22, some two months after a similar exchange of firing in late March.