South: North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Into Japanese Sea
MEP: North Korea has fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday morning which travelled 1,000km (620 miles) before landing in Japanese waters, U.S. and South Korean authorities said.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched about 7:50 a.m., South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
This is the fourth such missile launch in the past two weeks by Pyongyang in open defiance of the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Japan’s defence ministry said the missile landed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, a 200-nautical-mile offshore area where Tokyo has sovereign rights for exploring and exploiting resources.
“It imposes a serious threat to Japan’s security and it is unforgivable act of violence toward Japan’s security,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
Meanwhile, the US Strategic Command said two missiles had been fired simultaneously on Wednesday and that one exploded immediately after launch.
North Korea is prohibited from carrying out such missile launches under a March U.N. Security Council resolution.
