North Korea launches ballistic missile in Sea of Japan
Last week, Pyongyang had launched series of missiles in retaliation to joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea.
North Korea on Wednesday launched a short-range ballistic missile off its coast toward the east, according to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff, reported CNN.
The attack was confirmed by the Japanese Coast Guard, who said that the ballistic missile appeared to have fallen into the sea minutes after the launch was detected, reported Reuters. The missile flew for 250 kilometres and at a very low altitude of about 50 kilometres or less before it landed in the Sea of Japan.
[Emergency alert]
— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) November 9, 2022
North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow.
Wednesday’s launch comes a week after Pyongyang launched a series of attacks in the region.
On November 2, one of the short-range ballistic missiles fired by Pyongyang had crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between South Korea and North Korea. The South Korean military had said that the missile landed in waters just 57 kilometres east of the mainland.
This had prompted South Korea to issue raid alerts for Ulleungdo island, advising residents to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter. Seoul had retaliated with three air-to-ground missiles into the sea across the Northern Limit Line.
On November 3, North Korea had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, which reportedly failed. The intercontinental ballistic missiles are North Korea’s longest-range weapons and are designed to carry a nuclear warhead to the other side of the planet.
On Monday, Pyongyang had described the military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea last week as a “dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature” and said that it was an “open provocation” to escalate tensions in the Korean Peninsula, reported the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
