NKorea launches missiles off its eastern coast: Seoul
South Korean military officials on Thursday said North Korea fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea.  The missile launch comes days after its attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit ended in failure. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. It said the suspected missiles flew around 350 kilometres before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast.  It said the South Korean military had increased surveillance and shared its information with the United States and Japan. Japan’s coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory over the North Korean launches and urged ships to exercise caution if they find any fallen objects.  Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters the suspected missiles were believed to have landed in waters outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone and there were no immediate reports of damages.  He said Tokyo “strongly condemns” the launches, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North. (AP)