SKorea military: NKorea fires 2 suspected midrange missiles

In a remarkable show of persistence, North Korea on Wednesday fired two suspected powerful new Musudan midrange ballistic missiles, US and South Korean military officials said, its fifth and sixth such attempts since April.
Five of those launches failed, many exploding in midair or crashing, and the sixth flew only about 400 kilometers (250 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, an improvement but still well short of the missile's potential 3,500-kilometer range and not long enough to be classified as intermediate.
Despite the repeated failures, the North's determination in testing the Musudan worries Washington and its allies, Tokyo and Seoul, because the missile's range puts much of Asia and the Pacific, including US military bases there, within reach.

Each new test apparently linked to a command from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also likely provides valuable insights to the North's scientists and military officials as they push toward their goal of a nuclear and missile programme that can threaten the US mainland.
Pyongyang earlier this year conducted a nuclear test, its fourth, and launched a long-range rocket that outsiders say was a cover for a test of banned missile technology.
A statement from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said a suspected first Musudan launch from the east coast city of Wonsan failed early Wednesday morning. It didn't elaborate. But Japan's Defense Ministry said the missile fragmented and pieces fell into waters off the Korean Peninsula's east coast.

Later Wednesday, the JCS said the North fired another suspected Musudan, which flew about 400 kilometers. Seoul didn't immediately classify this launch as either a success or failure, but the reported distance is well short of past tests of other midrange missiles.

A US official also said the first launch appeared to be another failure, adding that the US was assessing exactly what had happened. The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. Another American official said the first launch was a suspected Musudan but initial indications were that it failed in flight over the Sea of Japan, which the Koreas call the East Sea.

The US Strategic Command in Hawaii said its systems detected and tracked two suspected North Korean Musudan missiles that fell into the Sea of Japan. It said in a statement that they didn't pose a threat to North America.
In April, North Korea attempted unsuccessfully to launch three suspected Musudan missiles, but all exploded in midair or crashed, according to South Korean defense officials. Earlier this month, North Korea had another suspected Musudan failure, South Korean officials said.
Before April's launches, North Korea had never flight-tested a Musudan missile, although one was displayed during a military parade in 2010 in Pyongyang, its capital.

The launches appear to stem from Kim Jong Un's order in March for more nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The order was an apparent response to springtime US-South Korean military drills, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.