The South Korean military condemned the launches as "extremely inappropriate given the difficult situation the world is experiencing due to Covid-19... We urge them to stop immediately." North Korea has not reported any cases of the coronavirus, which has turned into a major crisis with 11,300 deaths and more than 270,000 infections worldwide. Japan's defence ministry also confirmed the North Korean launches. North Korea is under multiple sets of punishing sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The UN Security Council said last month that it would make humanitarian exemptions to sanctions on North Korea to help it fight the coronavirus.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 21, 2020 03:11 UTC