North Korea Just Fired Short-Range Projectiles Into the Sea of Japan

The isolated country is only getting more belligerent.

North Korea fired five “short-range projectiles” into the Sea of Japan on Monday, the Pentagon told multiple new outlets, amid increasing tensions over the country’s missile programs.

Reuters reports that the “unidentified” projectiles “were launched from south of the city of Hamhung and flew about 200 km (120 miles), landing in waters east of North Korea.”

The launch came after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in a rebuke of sanctions on missile technology enacted by the U.S. and UN earlier this year.

The launch was also seen as a message to neighbor South Korea amid a series of joint military exercises currently underway in the region, according to USA Today. These war games were themselves a reaction to North Koreas claim to detonating a hydrogen bomb in January.

“Launches using ballistic missile technology are a clear violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban told Fox News. “We call on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.”

Something tells us that statements alone won’t decrease tensions. Here’s hoping that these warning shots from the increasingly isolated North Korea never actually hit anything.