N.Korea fires ballistic missile towards sea off east coast, South says

By Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL – North Korea has fired a ballistic missile towards the ocean off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea’s army mentioned, a couple of week after the North vowed to develop its nuclear forces “on the quickest attainable pace.”

The launch, which marks the North’s 14th main weapons check this 12 months, comes days earlier than South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol takes workplace on Might 10.

South Korea’s army mentioned it detected the launch about midday within the Sunan space of Pyongyang. Sunan is the place North Korea final fired what it claimed to be Hwasong-17, a “new sort” of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), on March 24.

Japan’s Coast Guard additionally mentioned that it had detected what gave the impression to be a ballistic missile fired from North Korea, and that the projectile had already landed.

Particulars of the projectile, together with its flight vary and altitude, weren't instantly obtainable.

The most recent launch got here lower than three weeks after the North fired a brand new tactical guided weapon on April 16 aimed toward boosting the nation’s nuclear capabilities.

Pyongyang has lately stepped up weapons assessments, resuming long-range missile launches for first time since 2017 in March. Officers in Seoul and Washington say it might even be making ready for a brand new spherical of nuclear assessments.

Final week, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un pledged to hurry up the event of his nation’s nuclear arsenal whereas overseeing an enormous army parade as denuclearisation talks with the USA stay stalled.

“Our army is sustaining readiness posture whereas intently monitoring associated actions for attainable further launches,” the South Korean army mentioned in a press release.

(This story refiles to take away extraneous letter in paragraph 4)