South Koreans have mixed reactions after South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports North Korea test-fired three Scud missiles.
North Korea test-fired three Scud missiles on Saturday (July 04), South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, further stoking regional tensions that were already high due to its nuclear test in May.
If the missiles were the ballistic Scuds, the launches would mark an escalation by the reclusive North, which has fired several non-ballistic, short-range missile since ... Read more

South Koreans have mixed reactions after South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports North Korea test-fired three Scud missiles.
North Korea test-fired three Scud missiles on Saturday (July 04), South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, further stoking regional tensions that were already high due to its nuclear test in May.
If the missiles were the ballistic Scuds, the launches would mark an escalation by the reclusive North, which has fired several non-ballistic, short-range missile since the May 25 nuclear test. North Korea is barred by United Nations resolutions from firing ballistic missiles such as the Scud.
"North Korea fired two missiles, which appeared to be a Scud type," Yonhap quoted an anonymous South Korean official as saying. "The missiles are estimated to have the range of about 500 km (310 miles)."
It then fired another similar missile a few hours later off its east coast that flew a similar distance and splashed into the sea, Yonhap quoted a government source as saying.
South Korean Defence Ministry sources confirmed the North fired three missiles off its east coast that travelled for about 400 km, which would indicate it fired ballistic missiles. The sources would not confirm the type of missiles.
Seoul residents had mixed reactions to the latest launches.
"I don't think the North's provocative actions are threatening the peace of the Korean peninsula because I believe South Korea's military capacity and international community's countermeasures are properly ready. I think the missiles were fired for the North's domestic politics," said 38-year-old Na Gi-Tae.
Twenty-one year-old Park So-Ra was more concerned.
"Maybe North Korea is conducting its military training to break a war, so I'm worried about that military training," she said.
North Korea is thought to have more than 600 Scud-type missiles that include the Hwasong-5, with a range of about 300 km and the Hwasong-6, with a range of about 500 km.
North Korea fired a barrage of four short-range, non-ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday.
In 2006, North Korea test-fired its long range Taepodong-2 missile and other ballistic missiles while the United States celebrated its July 4 Independence Day national holiday.
U.N. sanctions put in place after the North's nuclear test in May were aimed at halting its trade in missiles systems, which are a vital source of foreign currency for the cash-short state.
North Korea fired a rocket it said put a satellite into space in April. U.S., South Korean and other officials said the launch was a disguised test of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which could hit U.S. territory, and nothing was put into orbit.
The North has raised tension in recent months by saying it has started a programme to enrich uranium, which could give it a second path to a nuclear bomb, threatening to attack the South, and extracting plutonium at its ageing Yongbyon nuclear plant.
Analysts said the moves may be aimed at securing internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, thought to have suffered a stroke a year ago, as he prepares the ground for his youngest son to succeed him at the head of Asia's only communist dynasty. Close