N Korea to fire short-range missiles off east coast: Report

I / Seoul June 24, 2009, 13:37 IST

North Korea will likely fire short-range missiles in an area off its east coast from which it has banned shipping, a report said today.

Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said the communist state would probably fire Scuds or ground-to-ship missiles in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The North has warned Japanese ships to stay clear of the area for 16 days starting tomorrow because of unspecified military exercises, Japan's Coast Guard said yesterday.

The notification warned vessels not to enter an area measuring 110 by 450 kilometres at its widest points.

"It is likely to fire Scuds or short-range ground-to-ship missiles during the declared period from tomorrow through July 10," the source told Yonhap.

Scuds have a range of up to 500 km while ground-to-ship missiles have a 160 km range.

Yonhap had earlier reported preparations to fire medium-range missiles with a range of more than 3,000 km from a base near the eastern city of Wonsan. But it said today there were no signs at present of such preparations.

The defence ministry declined comment on what it called intelligence matters.