South Korea: Rival North launches ballistic missile

S EOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea today launched a ballistic missile that flew a b o u t 4 3 5 mi l e s , S o u t h Korea’s military said. The launch came just days after the election of a new South Korean president and as U.S., Japanese and European militaries gather for war games in the Pacific.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the early morning launch but had few other details, including what type of ballistic missile was fired. A statement said the missile was fired from near Kusong City, in North Pyongan province, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the details.

The kind of projectile matters because while North Korea regularly tests shorterrange missiles, it is also working to master the technology needed to field nucleart i pped mi s s i l e s t ha t c a n reach the U.S. mainland. The Trump administration has called such North Korean efforts unacceptable, but President Donald Trump said Monday that he would be “honored” to meet North Korea leader Kim Jong Un under the “right c ircumstances.”

Before the missile launch, t h e S o u t h Ko r e a n n e ws agenc y Yonhap reported Saturday that Choe Sun-hui, director general for North American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, said his country would be willing to talk to the U.S. government if — echoing Trump — conditions were right.

Choe was part of a North Ko r e a n d e l e g a t i o n t h a t recently met with a group of American experts in Oslo, Norway, Yonhap reported.

The launch also comes as troops from the U.S., Japan and two European nations gather on remote U.S. islands in the Pacific for drills that are partly a message to North Korea.

Last week South Koreans elec ted a new president , Moon Jae-in, who favors a much softer approach than his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who is in jail awaiting a corruption trial. North Korea needs tests to perfect its missile program, but it also is thought to time its launches to come after the elections of new U.S. and South Korean presidents in what analysts say are efforts meant to gauge a new administration’s reaction.