SEOUL: North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, said the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday.
The development comes less than two weeks after North Korea’s state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un had witnessed a successful test of a solid-fuel engine for a new intermediate-range hypersonic missile.
Japan also said it seemed that North Korea had fired the missile, adding that according to the Japanese coastguard, the missile had fallen.
Tuesday’s launch is the third test of the ballistic missile this year so far after the solid-fuel one witnessed by Kim in March and another with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead in January this year.
North Korea last year claimed it had successfully tested its first solid-fueled ICBM, the longest-range category of ballistic missile terming it as a breakthrough for Pyongyang’s nuclear counterattack capabilities.
Solid-fuel missiles do not need fueling before launch, making them harder to locate and destroy, as well as faster to use.
North Korea this year, has declared South Korea its principal enemy and abolished the agencies dedicated to outreach and reunification of Korea. It also threatened a full-scale war over even 0.001 mm of its territorial infringement.
