SEOUL, Sept 25 – North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast on Sunday ahead of a planned military exercise between South Korean and US forces involving an aircraft carrier and ahead of a visit by US Vice President Kamala to the Harris region.
South Korea’s military said it was a single short-range ballistic missile fired from near the Taechon area in North Pyongyang province just before 7:00 a.m. local time and flew about 600 km (373 mi) at an altitude of 60 km and a speed of Mach. 5.
“North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile is an act of grave provocation that threatens the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the international community,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Seung-kyum and US Forces Korea Commander Paul LaCamera discussed the situation after the launch and reaffirmed their readiness to respond to any threat or provocation from North Korea, it added.
South Korea’s National Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss response measures and condemned the launch as a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and an unjustifiable act of provocation.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who arrived in Seoul late on Saturday from a trip to Britain, the United States and Canada, was informed of the launch, the presidential office said.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan estimated the missile reached a maximum altitude of 50 km and could have flown on an irregular trajectory. Hamada said it is outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there have been no reported problems with shipping or air traffic.
Many of the short-range missiles tested by North Korea in recent years have been designed to evade missile defenses by maneuvering in flight and following a lower, “compressed” trajectory, experts said.