N Korea launches missiles ahead of Xi\\\'s Seoul visit

North Korea on Sunday fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a series of launches staged in an apparent show of force ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the South. The North fired the missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) from the country’s east coast on Sunday morning, a defence ministry official said. ‘Both landed in international waters beyond its sea border,’ the official said. He did not elaborate on the type of the missile. But Yonhap news agency, citing a military official, said they were short-range Scud missiles with a range of about 500 kilometres (300 miles). In Tokyo, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera also told reporters that North Korea had launched a number of ballistic missiles. He added that the Japanese government had lodged a protest with Pyongyang through its embassy in Beijing. The launch came three days after Pyongyang fired what were believed to be three short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, according to AFP.