North Korea fires ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan

The South Korean Defense Ministry has complained in the early hours of Sunday morning that North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, known in Korea as the East Sea.

The South Korean Armed Forces have reported that the launch was detected at 06.53 local time from Taechon, in North Pyongan province, and that the ballistic missile flew about 600 kilometers with an apogee of 60 kilometers and a maximum speed of mach 5, that is to say at five times the speed of sound, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, which also detected the launch and is analyzing it, the missile fell in the waters of the Sea of Japan (called the East Sea on the Korean peninsula), outside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, which also detected the launch and is analyzing it, the missile fell in the waters of the Sea of Japan (called the East Sea on the Korean peninsula), outside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Sunday’s launch is the first ballistic missile launch by Pyongyang since June, when it fired eight short-range missiles.

North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea https://t.co/1tfbuGRcYv

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South Korea’s emergency National Security Council has condemned the launch as a “provocation”. “It is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a provocation that increases tension on the Korean peninsula and in the region and cannot be justified in any way,” it said.

North Korea has conducted a record number of projectile tests this year after approving a weapons modernization plan last year and has also toughened its nuclear posture. This exercise by the North Korean military – the fifth since the Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office in May this year – came two days after a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in the southeastern port city of Busan for its first combined drills with South Korean troops in five years.

In addition, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Japan and South Korea this week.

In its latest projectile launch in August, the regime fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea (called the West Sea in the two Koreas), but the use of such projectiles on its part is not punishable under UN sanctions, which focus on ballistic missiles and its nuclear tests.

– Thailand News (TN)