Seoul - Arab Today
North Korea may launch a provocation to mark the newly designated anniversary of its Strategic Rocket Force, Seoul's military said Sunday.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), there is a possibility that Pyongyang will stage some sort of provocation to mark its rocket force's founding day, which falls on Sunday, and U.S. Fourth of July Independence Day.
"At present there are no out of ordinary signs that the North is planning something, but South Korean forces are maintaining high degree of vigilance," a JCS source said.
The reclusive country designated July 3 as its Strategic Rocket Force Day during a meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) last month. The SPA is the country's parliament, state news agency (Yonhap) reported.
Military sources said Seoul is on alert because the country has a history of launching missiles around the U.S.'s national holiday that falls a day after the newly created strategic forces day.
On July 4, 2006, the communist country fired off a Taepodong 2 long-range rocket and in 2009, it launched two medium-range Rodong missiles.
This year, South Korea's military said the North may try to fire another Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile or move to launch its Rodong or Scud missiles to show its defiance to the United States and the outside world at large.
Source: QNA