North Korea launches a ballistic missile towards the sea, say South Korea and Japan
The launch comes days after North Korea test-fired a suspected ICBM in the Sea of Japan.
According to Yonhap news agency, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea launched a ballistic missile towards the sea off the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula.
The Joint Services Board did not immediately provide details of Sunday’s launch.
The Japanese Coast Guard also said that what North Korea fired could be a ballistic missile.
The launch follows North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Thursday, hours before the South Korean president heads to Tokyo for a flight summit which discussed ways to confront its nuclear-armed neighbor.
North Korean state media described the launch of the Hwasong 17 as a response to Ongoing “frantic” joint exercises in South Korea and the United States.
Seoul and Washington have stepped up security cooperation after a year of record-breaking North Korean weapons tests and nuclear threats.
Pyongyang views all of these exercises as rehearsals for invasion.
Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power, and leader Kim Jong-un recently called for a “massive” increase in weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons.
