Medium-range missile fired in latest weapon test

In its latest effort to develop its weapons, North Korea fired a medium-range 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 east 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 said. The missile launched Sunday reached an altitude of 347 miles, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

The February test involved using a launch truck to fire a solid-fuel missile that North Korea calls the Pukguksong-2, a land-based version of a submarinelaunched missile the country revealed earlier. That missile traveled about 300 miles before crashing into the sea, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.

The February launch, the North’s first missile test after Trump took office, alarmed neighbors because solid-fuel missiles can be fired faster than liquid-fuel missiles, which need to be fueled before launch and require a larger number of vehicles, including fuel trucks.

Those vehicles could be spotted by satellites.

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.