N. Korea res ballistic missile into East Sea – Seoul military

SEOUL – North Korea has fired an unidentified ballistic missile into the sea off South Korea’s east coast, Seoul’s military said Monday, the latest in an apparent volley of tests by Pyongyang this year.

“North Korea has fired an unidentified missile into the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

Tokyo also confirmed the launch, with the Japanese defense ministry saying “a suspected ballistic missile was launched from North Korea” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Japan’s coast guard, citing the defense ministry, said shortly after the initial announcement that the missile appeared to have already fallen.

Japanese media including public broadcaster NHK reported that the suspected missile fell outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, citing unnamed government sources.

Seoul-based specialist site NK News said that the “brief flight time, likely under ten minutes, points to the launch involving a short-range ballistic missile or 600mm multiple launch rocket system (MLRS).”

The latest launch comes after UN sanctions monitoring against the nuclear-armed nation was upended last month by Russia.

Pyongyang’s ally Moscow in March used its United Nations Security Council veto to effectively end UN monitoring of violations of the raft of sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s government for its nuclear and weapons program.

On Friday, North Korea tested a “super-large warhead” designed for a strategic cruise missile, state media said, with Seoul’s military confirming it had detected cruise missile launches around the same time.

SUtnalinkedthaeirr bdallistic counterparts, the testing ofTcOruDisAe missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions on North Korea.

Cruise missiles tend to be jet-propelled and fly at a lower altitude than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them harder to detect and intercept.

YStandard