South Korea has called nuclear-armed North Korea its “enemy”. (Representative)
Seoul:
North Korea launched an unspecified ballistic missile on Monday, the South Korean military said, its second in less than 48 hours and a day after joint US-South Korean exercises.
“North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile on Monday toward the East Sea,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to the official Yonhap news agency, the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Japan’s prime minister’s office also tweeted Monday morning that “North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile.”
The Japanese coastguard said shortly thereafter that the projectile “appears to have already fallen,” without providing further details.
The United States and South Korea staged a joint air drill featuring a strategic bomber and stealth fighter jets on Sunday in response to a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch a day earlier.
Japan said the ICBM flew for 66 minutes and landed in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
North Korea later said the missile launched on Saturday was the Hwasong-15 and was part of a “surprise” drill to demonstrate Pyongyang’s ability to deliver a “deadly nuclear strike”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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