Stop escalating military tension: Seoul to Pyongyang

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea on Tuesday urged North to stop "escalating military tensions" on the Korean Peninsula.

"We are deeply concerned about North Korea's launch of multiple projectiles, which violates the spirit of the inter-Korean military agreement," Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo as saying.

The statement comes few days after Pyongyang fired "several short-range projectiles" involving a new type of tactical guided weapon and 240-mm and 300-mm multiple rocket launcher systems off the East Coast from Hodo peninsula near its eastern coastal town of Wonsan.

"We urge North Korea to halt acts that escalate military tensions on the Korean Peninsula," she added.

The South Korean military said it had no information if the tactical weapons fired by North Korea are ballistic missiles or not.

Yonhap quoted experts analyzing photographs released by the North Korean Central News agency that weapons are "believed to be short-range, ground-to-ground ballistic missiles, which are known as the North Korean version of Russia's Iskander missiles.

Seoul and Pyongyang last year in September had agreed to a series of trust-building and arms-control measures under a broader scheme to halt all hostile acts against each other.