Reported North Korean Missile Launch Confirmed By South Korea’s Defense Ministry

The Associated Press and Reuters have reported that there has been a North Korean missile launch early Monday.

According to South Korea’s defense ministry, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off the East coast of the Korean peninsula.

Pyongyang, which routinely conducts short-range missile tests, launched four short-range missiles late last month in a similar display of force, officials have said.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said that in Monday’s test, missiles likely flew about 300 miles after being launched off the North’s east coast, adding they were believed to be Scud-C models.

The distance means the missiles are capable of hitting targets in South Korea and Japan, two countries that, unlike Ukraine, have a treaty with the U.S. that requires the superpower to come to their assistance with military force in the event an aggressor attacks.

The launch also comes just days after the start of annual U.S. and South Korean joint military exercises, which Pyongyang routinely denounces as preparation of war.

North Korea is the latest nation to test the U.S. and its allies after Russian President Vladimir Putin requested and received authority from the Russian Parliament to use military force to seize the Crimea region of Ukraine. It is unclear what response if any President Obama has in store for the North Korean regime, who is already isolated.

However, if we can expect the same reaction toward North Korean defiance as we have seen with the Ukraine crisis, then we can expect little.