North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The launch was also announced by the Japanese military, barely a month after North Korea’s last launch and its twelfth such launch this year. According to a Japanese Defense Ministry official quoted by NHK, the missile was still flying.
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile toward the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the Sea of Japan.
The launch comes after North Korea raised heated complaints about US military activities, accusing US spy planes of violating its airspace. Pyongyang also condemned the recent visit of a US nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine to South Korea.
A spokesman for the US Department of National Defense said the United States had “increased espionage activities beyond wartime levels”, citing “provocative” flights by US spy planes for eight consecutive days and one reconnaissance aircraft that had entered its East Sea airspace “several times”.
“There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of a US Air Force strategic reconnaissance aircraft will not occur in the East Sea of Korea,” the spokesman said in a statement.
In 2023, North Korea tested its first-ever solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and made a failed attempt to launch its first-ever spy satellite on a new launch vehicle.
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