NKorea fi res mid-range missile in latest test

SEOUL, South Korea — In its latest effort to develop its ballistic and nuclear weapons, North Korea fired a mediumrange missile Sunday that appeared to be similar to one the country tested earlier this year, U.S. and South Korean officials said.

The rocket was fired from an area near the North Korean county of Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 310 miles, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The U.S. Pacific Command said it tracked the missile before it fell into the sea.

White House officials traveling in Saudi Arabia with President Donald Trump said the system that was tested had a shorter range than the missiles fired in North Korea’s most recent tests.

The missile appeared to be similar in range and maximum altitude to the missile that North Korea test-fired in February, an official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The missile launched on Sunday reached an altitude of 347 miles, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

The February launch, the North’s first missile test after Trump took office, involved using a launch truck to fire a solid-fuel missile that traveled about 310 miles before crashing into the sea. The launch alarmed neighbors because solid-fuel missiles can be fired faster than liquidfuel missiles, which need to be fueled before launch and require a larger number of vehicles, including fuel trucks.

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it was too early to know whether diplomatic and economic pressures being exerted on the North Korean government are having an impact in the wake of the latest missile test.

“We’re early in the stages of applying the economic pressure as well as the diplomatic pressure to the regime in North Korea,” Tillerson said. “Hopefully they will get the message that the path of continuing their nuclear arms program is not a pathway to security or certainly prosperity. The ongoing testing is disappointing. It’s disturbing.”