WASHINGTON D.C., United States (Reuters) — The U.S. said on Thursday (March 3), it could not confirm reports North Korea fired several short-range projectiles into the sea, hours after the U.N. Security Council voted to impose tough new sanctions on the isolated state.
“I’ve seen the reports of these missile shots that they allegedly took. I’m actually not in a position right now to independently confirm that they actually did that,” state department spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby added that such action would not be “surprising…Is it provocative? Absolutely it is. There’s no doubt about that.”
Projectiles were reportedly fired after the U.N. Security Council passed a unanimous resolution on Wednesday (March 2) dramatically expanding sanctions on North Korea following its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.
The firing escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula, which have been high since North Korea recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, and set the South’s military on a heightened alert.
