North Korea did its usual thing on Thursday, which is firing rockets in the direction of South Korea. However, Thursday was a special day for Seoul, since Pope Francis had landed there. Pyongyang claims that the rockets had nothing to do with the Pope’s arrival in South Korea.
According to the New York Times, the North fired three short-range rockets just off the east coast before the Pope landed in Seoul. Two more rockets were launched later in the day.
Kim In-yong, a North Korean rocket scientist, was quoted as telling state-run Korean Central News Agency that Pyongyang would not have had any interest in the Pope’s visit anyway.
“We don’t know and in fact have no interest at all in why he is traveling to South Korea and what he is going to plot with the South Korean puppets,” he reportedly said.
Reuters reports that Kim added that the rockets were fired off as part of a previously scheduled test. He said it was “absurd” to link the tests with the pontiff’s arrival on the Korean peninsula.
Pope Francis started a five-day tour of South Korea. His official Twitter page even sent out blessings in Korean.
May God bless Korea – and in a special way, the elderly and the young people.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 14, 2014
image courtesy of INFphoto.com