A military officer has anonymously tipped the Yonhap news agency that North Korea "test fired" two short range missiles into the East Sea Friday.
"The launch was seen as testing its capability for short-range missiles. It seemed to be conducted on a military-unit level, not at a national level,"the source told Yonhap.
This doesn't just underscore tensions between North and South, but between hawkish generals and their young leader, Kim Jong-Un. "Not at the national level" but on a "military-unit" level seems to imply that the dictator did not order the test.
The missiles were reportedly North Korea's KN-02 short range version.
KN-02 missiles, an upgraded version of SS-21 short-range missiles, are estimated to have a range of about 120 kilometers, according to Yonhap's source.
The newest bout of hot rhetoric and posturing from the North traces back to when the U.S. cut off food aid in April following a failed long-range missile test.
The North replied with another missile test in December, this one successful, and a nuclear test in early 2013. The U.S. then spearheaded efforts to sanction North Korea in the U.N. security council. Eventually China gave their support, and new sanctions took place, aimed primarily at the pockets of North Korea's elites and the country's military industrial complex.
An enraged Kim Jong-Un, who as recently as January talked of reuniting with the South, immediately ratcheted up his rhetoric. Since the sanctions passed the Security Council, he has made several apocalyptic assertions about military posturing to the South.
The missile test comes at a time when the U.S. and South Korea are conducting an annual joint-military exercise called "Foal Eagle."
SEE ALSO: The 38th Parallel on the Korean Peninsula is one of the tensest places on earth >
SEE ALSO: There's a side to North Korea most people rarely get to see >
SEE ALSO: The Military and Defense Facebook page for updates >
Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.