...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea's military said, ratcheting up tensions even after the end of a joint military exercise between the South and the United States.
The projectiles were fired at 6:45 a.m. and 7:02 a.m. from the eastern town of Sondok in South Hamgyong Province into the East Sea, and both flew around 380 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 97 km and a top speed of around Mach 6.5, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
"Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a release, adding the South Korean and the U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing their exact type.
Saturday's firings marked the seventh round of such launches since July 25 when the North broke a 17-month hiatus and started firing missiles and projectiles to test new weapons and protest the South-U.S. joint military exercise that it has long denounced as a rehearsal for invasion.
The exercise concluded earlier this week, raising hope for a halt in the North's missile launches and a resumption of denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
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