North Korea in new ballistic missile launch

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its capital Pyongyang last night towards the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea’s military has said.

Military officials said the missile flew 1,678 miles at a height of 341 miles.

Japanese officials said it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean. There was no damage to ships or anything else reported. Japan’s NHK TV said the missile separated into three parts.

The launch comes days after the North fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and a month after its second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the US mainland when perfected.

The North has also threatened to fire some of its missiles towards Guam and expressed anger over the ongoing annual war games between the United States and South Korea.

The new missile launch comes as North Korea wants to take its complaints about the war games to the UN Security Council, saying the annual manoeuvres are recklessly provocative at a time of tension.

The letter, dated on Friday, asks Egypt as Security Council president to schedule a discussion urgently.

Pyongyang regularly argues that the US-South Korean military exercises are an invasion rehearsal.

In the US, the Pentagon said it was still in the process of assessing the launch. It said the North American Aerospace Defence Command had determined the missile launch did not pose a threat to North America.