Tokyo, 14 October, /AJMEDIA/
North Korea launched early Friday a short-range ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, the Japanese government and South Korean military said, as it conducted the latest in a series of missile tests that have heightened tensions.
The missile, launched at around 1:47 a.m., apparently traveled some 650 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 50 km and splashed down outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, some 370 km from its coast, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.
The launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was reported by KCNA as having overseen the test-firing Wednesday of two long-range strategic cruise missiles.
North Korea has conducted a series of missile launches since late September, including a ballistic missile fired earlier this month over the Japanese archipelago for the first time in five years.
Pyongyang’s recent launches in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions have come amid growing speculation that it could conduct a seventh nuclear test in the near future.
Friday’s launch prompted South Korea to impose unilateral sanctions for the first time in five years, blacklisting 15 individuals and 16 organizations involved in North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.
The U.S. State Department condemned the launch and said Washington continues to seek “serious and sustained dialogue” with North Korea but that Pyongyang “refuses to engage.”
The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 700 km from an area near Pyongyang at around 1:49 a.m.
More than 10 North Korean military aircraft, meanwhile, flew near the no-fly zone between the countries from late Thursday to early Friday, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets, the JCS said.
The North Korean aircraft reached a point some 5 km north of the no-fly zone on the western side of the Korean Peninsula and a point roughly 7 km north of the zone on the eastern side, the JCS said.
The North also fired about 130 artillery rounds toward the Yellow Sea past 1 a.m., followed by around 40 rounds toward the Sea of Japan, according to the JCS.
The launch was condemned by Hamada as “totally unacceptable.” South Korea also slammed it while noting that the recent pace of North Korean missile tests is unprecedented.
The missile possibly flew on an irregular trajectory, Hamada said, adding there were no immediate reports of damage to Japanese aircraft or ships.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, quoting a spokesman of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, said North Korea took unspecified “strong military countermeasures” after South Korea conducted artillery fire for about 10 hours near the forward defense area” of the North’s military.