North Korea Fires Two Nuclear Bomb Ballistic Missiles into Japan's Marine Economic Zone

North korea fired off two apparent ballistic missiles nuclaer into economic zone the sea of Japan on Wednesday, just days after testing a new weapon believed capable of delivering a nuclear bomb to most of Japan. The japan coast guard said the missiles appeared to be ballistic and were not believed to have landed in Japanese territorial waters or its exclusive economic zone. The launches were the country's first ballistic missile test since late march and fired off two short-range weapons.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Shuga speaking at a hastily arranged news conference condemned the launch calling it an outrageous threat to peace and security in the region. the South Korean military also confirmed the launch of two missiles and both seoul and Tokyo said they were continuing to analyze data on the firings. Further details including the distance the missiles traveled were not immediately unavailable. the North typically releases flight data and images the day after launches.

The move also coincided with a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seoul for meetings with his South Korean counterpart. Although Beijing is Pyongyang's sole diplomatic ally and its main patron for trade and aid. The North shuttered its borders early on in the covid 19 pandemic last year and has yet to allow significant amounts of goods to trickle through.

The latest launches also come just days after the nuclear-armed north announced monday that it had developed yet another weapon a new type long-range cruise missile potentially capable of evading missile defenses that could put most of japan within striking distance. It called the cruise missile which it said it had test fired twice over the weekend a strategic weapon of great significance.

State-run media said the missiles had traveled for nearly two hours over north korean land and air , ultimately hitting targets kilometers away. The test firings took place after china's foreign minister wang yi met his counterpart in seoul, Chung Yua Yang and then sat for a 40-minute session with south korean president Moon Jae-In as part of a week-long tour of asia.

Chung requested China's continued support for the Korean peninsula peace process, reuters said while moon asked beijing to help restart stalled dialogue between pyongyang and representatives from Seoul and Washington.

Over the weekend, the north's official korean central news agency confirmed the successful launch of a new type of long-range cruise missile calling it a strategic weapon of great significance, that flew over 900 miles in a two-hour flight. Asked about the weekend's tests on wednesday, Wang avoided direct criticism of its north korean ally calling instead for all countries to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

On monday the chinese foreign ministry asked all parties to exercise restraint. The north is under international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs but is not barred from conducting cruise missile tests. Its non-proliferation talks with the U.S linked to demands that sanctions on Pyongyang be lifted broke down in 2019 following a summit in Vietnam between north korea's Kim Jong-Un and former president Donald Trump.