As world battles Coronavirus, North Korea fires two projectiles

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As world battles Coronavirus, North Korea fires two projectiles

The US and China have called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes

Saturday March 21, 2020 8:59 AM, ummid.com with inputs from IANS

Pyongyang: Even as the world battles Coronavirus outbreak, North Korea on Saturday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea from North Pyongyang province, Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

North Korea launched multiple missiles as part of firing drills earlier this month. The US and China have called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes, BBC reported.

On Saturday, South Korea's military said it was monitoring the situation in case there are additional launches.

Japan's coast guard confirmed a missile had landed outside the waters of its exclusive economic zone.

It comes as North Korea announced it would be holding a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament, on 10 April. Analysts say the meeting will involve almost 700 of the country's leaders in one spot.

Rachel Minyoung Lee, from North Korea monitoring website NK News said on Twitter that the meeting would "be the ultimate show of (North Korea's) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation".

Analysts, however, said that it was a show of confidence during the coronavirus pandemic by announcing an April legislature session.

Coronavirus death toll crosses 10,000 mark

North Korea's latest move came even as the world is battling the spread of Coronavirus with death tolling crossing 10,000 mark Friday.

Italy, which saw its Covid-19 death toll on Thursday overtake that of China, from where the disease was first reported, has reported another huge spike in fatalities which have now crossed 4,000.

In the last 24 hours, the country recorded 627 deaths - the largest number so far - taking its total to 4,032, as per officials, the BBC reported.

It has been the worst week so far for Italy, which recorded 300 plus deaths for three days running since Sunday, 400 plus for the next two days and now, crossed 600.

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