North Korea on Saturday fired a ballistic missile seaward east of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s military said. It is the latest in an unprecedented number of missile tests carried out by North Korea this year. Japan’s coast guard said North Korea had fired what could be a ballistic missile and sent a notification of a second possible missile.
North Korea launched the rocket a day after South Korea’s defense ministry said it had successfully conducted a test flight of a solid-propellant space launch vehicle. Five North Korean drones flew into South Korea on Monday, prompting the South Korean military to outmaneuver fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to shoot them down, the first such intrusion since 2017.
Not counting Saturday, North Korea has fired about 70 ballistic missiles about 38 times this year including about eight intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), sources said.