Pyongyang fires missile in latest test

SEOUL: North Korea yesterday fired a mediumrange missile, US and South Korean officials said, in the latest ballistics test for a country speeding up its development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

The rocket was fired from an area near the North Korean county of Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 500km, said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It did not immediately provide more details.

White House officials travelling with President Donald Trump said the system, which was last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea’s most recent tests. US Pacific Command said it tracked the missile until it landed in the sea.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the country’s military “is closely monitoring the North Korean military for any further provocation and maintaining readiness to respond”.

In February, North Korea used a launcher truck to fire a midrange solid-fuel missile that it calls the Pukguksong (Polaris)-2, a land-based version of a submarine-launched missile the country revealed earlier. That missile travelled about 500km before crashing into the sea, according to South Korean and US officials.

The February launch, the North’s first missile test after Mr Trump took office, alarmed neighbours because solid-fuel missiles can be fired more quickly than liquid-fuel missiles, which need to be fuelled before launch and require a larger number of vehicles, including fuel trucks, that could be spotted by satellites.

The North’s latest launch came a week after North Korea successfully tested a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead. Experts said that rocket flew higher and for a longer time than any other missile previously tested by North Korea, and that it could one day reach targets as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.

Under the watch of dictator Kim Jong-un, North Korea has been aggressively pursuing a decades-long goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year alone, possibly improving its knowledge on making nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The country has also conducted a slew of rocket launches as it continues to advance its arsenal of ballistic weapons.