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N Korea fires second ballistic missile in a week

SEOUL — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast yesterday, South Korea and Japan said, a week after it tested an intermediate-range missile, which experts deemed an advancement in the reclusive state’s weapons programme.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch a ‘challenge to the world’, and vowed to bring up the issue at the G7 summit in Italy this week. PHOTO: AP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch a ‘challenge to the world’, and vowed to bring up the issue at the G7 summit in Italy this week. PHOTO: AP

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SEOUL — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast yesterday, South Korea and Japan said, a week after it tested an intermediate-range missile, which experts deemed an advancement in the reclusive state’s weapons programme.

The missile took off from a location near Pukchang, north-east of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew 500km before falling in the sea off the county’s east coast, the South Korean military said in a statement.

The United States Pacific Command said that it had “detected and tracked” a medium-range ballistic missile that was launched by the North and landed in the Sea of Japan, adding that “the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America”.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said both economic and diplomatic pressure will continue to be applied to North Korea. “The ongoing testing is disappointing, disturbing, and we ask that they cease that,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

A South Korean military official said the missile resembled North Korea’s Pukguksong-2 type, an upgraded, extended-range version of its liquid-fuel submarine-launched ballistic missile. “Our military is closely monitoring signs for additional provocation by the North Korean military, and we are keeping full military readiness,” said a statement from the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

South Korea’s foreign ministry condemned the launch, saying that the missile launch was “reckless and irresponsible”, and dashed the new South Korean government’s hopes for peace.

New South Korean liberal President Moon Jae-in took office on May 10, pledging a more moderate approach to the North.

He also named his new foreign minister nominee and top advisers for security and foreign policy yesterday.

Japan immediately issued a protest to North Korea over the missile test. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and no damage to ships or airplanes was reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch a “challenge to the world” that trampled international efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile problems peacefully, and vowed to bring up the issue as the “main agenda” of this week’s G7 summit in Italy.

China — an ally of North Korea — had no immediate comment.

The launch comes as United States President Donald Trump, who has pressed China to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, is on a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. “This system, last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea’s three most recent tests,” a US official said on condition of anonymity.

The launch of the missile also comes just one week after the North fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile which, according to Pyongyang, flew almost 800km and could carry a “heavy” nuclear warhead, sparking angry comments from Mr Trump, Mr Abe and Mr Moon.

Analysts said the Hwasong travelled further than any previous ballistic missile launched by the North.

North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programmes, even from China, calling them legitimate self-defence.

It has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland. AGENCIES

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