MILITARY/NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “North Korea launched at least two short-range ballistic missiles on Friday [8-16-19], South Korea’s military said, shortly after Pyongyang described South Korea’s president as ‘impudent’ and vowed that inter-Korean talks are over. The North has protested against joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, largely computer-simulated, which kicked off last week, calling them a rehearsal for war. It has also fired several short-range missiles in recent weeks. North Korea fired two more short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast on Friday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. Japan’s defense ministry said it did not see any imminent security threat from the latest projectile launch. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial information indicated at least one projectile was fired by North Korea and appeared to be similar to the short-range missiles fired in previous weeks. Another official said the United States was consulting with South Korea and Japan.”
–Josh Smith and Jack Kim, “North Korea fires missiles, derides South Korea’s Moon as ‘impudent’,” Reuters, August 16, 2019