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North Korea has fired a mid-range missile from an area near its capital Pyongyang, South Korean and United States officials said, in the latest move for a country speeding up its nuclear weapons and missile development.
Key points:
- The mid-range missile flew 500km and reached an altitude of 560km
- It resembled the Pukguksong-2 missile, previously tested in February
- US calls test "disturbing", vows to continue placing pressure on Pyongyang
It was fired from a location near Pukchang, an area where Pyongyang attempted to test-launch another missile last month but failed, South Korea's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The missile resembled North Korea's Pukguksong-2 — an upgraded, extended-range version of its submarine-launched ballistic missile.
It flew about 500 kilometres and reached an altitude of about 560 kilometres, military officials said, and was believed to have landed in waters off North Korea's east coast.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the launch "throws cold water" on expectations by new President Moon Jae-in to "stabilise peace and denuclearise the Korean Peninsula".
"Our Government is open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, but will also maintain a stance of firmly responding to provocations," the ministry said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington would continue to apply economic and diplomatic pressure to North Korea.
"Hopefully they will get the message that the path of continuing their nuclear arms program is not a pathway to security, or certainly prosperity," Mr Tillerson said.
"The ongoing testing is disappointing, disturbing and we ask that they cease that."
White House officials traveling in Saudi Arabia with US President Donald Trump said the system, which was last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea's most recent tests.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the launch an intolerable and clear violation of UN resolutions.
Missile had 'shorter range' than previous tests
The launch comes a week after North Korea successfully tested a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead.
Experts said that rocket flew higher and for a longer time than any other missile previously tested by North Korea, and that it could one day reach targets as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
Under the watch of Kim Jong-un, North Korea has been aggressively pursuing a decades-long goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile program, even from its lone major ally China, calling them legitimate self-defence.
It has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland.
"Today the US mainland and the Pacific operational theatre are within the strike range of the DPRK and the DPRK has all kinds of powerful means for annihilating retaliatory strike," North Korea's state KCNA news agency said in a commentary on Saturday.
Pyongyang's aggressive push to boost its weapons program also makes it one of the most urgent foreign policy concerns for the Trump administration, though Washington has struggled to settle on a policy.
Reuters/AP
Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of
First posted