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dpa
Seoul
North Korea test-fired another missile - its ninth this year - into the waters off the Korean Peninsula on Saturday, military officials in South Korea and Japan said.
The missile was fired eastwards from near the capital Pyongyang. It then flew 270 kilometres at an altitude of up to 560 kilometres before crashing into the sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It could have been a similar missile to the one fired a week earlier, the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a military representative as saying.
At that time, experts suspected that it was a medium-range ballistic missile, which can have a radius of action up to 5,550 kilometres.
The missile test comes just four days ahead of South Korea’s presidential election.
The National Security Council in Seoul called on its neighbour to refrain from fuelling further tensions.
North Korea’s latest series of tests was “absolutely unacceptable”, said Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi.
North Korea was threatening the peace and security of Japan and the international community, he said.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, which, depending on their design, can also carry a nuclear warhead.
Such missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles.
Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions with a series of missile launches since the start of this year.
There are fears the isolated regime could soon again test an intercontinental ballistic missile that has the capability of reaching United States territory.
North Korea’s apparent missile test overshadowed the start of the annual People’s Congress in Beijing Saturday.
The fact that North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un chose to stage a new military provocation just as the plenary session of the People’s Congress - China’a top legislature - was getting under way is likely to annoy Beijing, observers said.
Experts have speculated that the regime of Kim Jong Un in Pjonyang could use the escalating Ukraine conflict to put more pressure on the United States to submit concrete proposals for new negotiations.
The US government’s talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme have been at a standstill since former US President Donald Trump’s failed summit with Kim in Vietnam in February 2019.
North Korea last tested a missile last Sunday after a four-week break. A day later it spoke of an important test for the development of an earth observation satellite.
Seoul
North Korea test-fired another missile - its ninth this year - into the waters off the Korean Peninsula on Saturday, military officials in South Korea and Japan said.
The missile was fired eastwards from near the capital Pyongyang. It then flew 270 kilometres at an altitude of up to 560 kilometres before crashing into the sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It could have been a similar missile to the one fired a week earlier, the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a military representative as saying.
At that time, experts suspected that it was a medium-range ballistic missile, which can have a radius of action up to 5,550 kilometres.
The missile test comes just four days ahead of South Korea’s presidential election.
The National Security Council in Seoul called on its neighbour to refrain from fuelling further tensions.
North Korea’s latest series of tests was “absolutely unacceptable”, said Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi.
North Korea was threatening the peace and security of Japan and the international community, he said.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, which, depending on their design, can also carry a nuclear warhead.
Such missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles.
Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions with a series of missile launches since the start of this year.
There are fears the isolated regime could soon again test an intercontinental ballistic missile that has the capability of reaching United States territory.
North Korea’s apparent missile test overshadowed the start of the annual People’s Congress in Beijing Saturday.
The fact that North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un chose to stage a new military provocation just as the plenary session of the People’s Congress - China’a top legislature - was getting under way is likely to annoy Beijing, observers said.
Experts have speculated that the regime of Kim Jong Un in Pjonyang could use the escalating Ukraine conflict to put more pressure on the United States to submit concrete proposals for new negotiations.
The US government’s talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme have been at a standstill since former US President Donald Trump’s failed summit with Kim in Vietnam in February 2019.
North Korea last tested a missile last Sunday after a four-week break. A day later it spoke of an important test for the development of an earth observation satellite.
