North Korea on Monday launched an unidentified projectile(s) toward its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, without further details.

Japan‘s coast guard said Pyongyang fired what could be a ballistic missile.

Monday’s launch came three days after North Korea on Friday afternoon fired a pair of KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles from a rail-mobile launcher.

This marks Pyongyang’s fourth weapons test this year.

Pyongyang test-fired four ballistic missiles in three discrete launches, which were conducted between Jan.5 to Jan. 14 in short intervals.

The consecutive show of force is noteworthy, given that North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday swiftly repudiated Washington’s sanctions designations and warned that the country would be “compelled to take a stronger and clear reaction if the US adopts such a confrontational stance at all costs” in a press statement.

A spate of test launches also came after Pyongyang on Jan.1 announced the country‘s policy direction for the new year as the outcome of the five-day fourth plenum.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un notably urged the country to further bolster the national defense capabilities “without delay,” citing the volatile security environment on the Korean peninsula as the main reason.

Source: The Korean Herald