NORTH KOREA FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE OFF WESTERN JAPAN

SEOUL: North Korea fired a shortrange ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone on Monday, officials said, in the latest in a string of test launches as the North seeks to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs that can reach the US mainland.

The suspected Scud-type missile launched from the coastal town of Wonsan flew about 450 km, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It landed in Japan’s exclusive maritime economic zone, which is set about 200 nautical miles off the Japanese coast, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. He said there was no report of damage to planes or vessels in the area.

North Korea is still thought to be several years from its goal of being able to target US mainland cities with a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile. It has a strong arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles that could hit Japan and South Korea as well as US forces in the region, and it is working to perfect its longerrange missiles.

North Korea’s state-controlled media had no immediate comment. But a day earlier, the North said leader Kim Jong Un had watched a successful test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system. It wasn’t clear from the state media report when the test happened.

Kim found that the weapon system’s ability to detect and track targets had “remarkably” improved and was more accurate, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.