North Korea has fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile off its eastern coast early this morning, according to officials in neighbouring South Korea and Japan.
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday morning, without going into further detail.
Japan’s coast guard and defence ministry also detected the weapon, with the coast guard saying it flew for about 550 kms and landed just outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Japan’s Coast Guard said the missile was launched at 9:59 a.m.
Local time and fell into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
Tokyo has lodged a “stern protest” against this unannounced launch and has termed it very provocative.
The flight time, if confirmed, would be similar to those of North Korean missiles tested in March and April of this year.
Both of those were of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), weapons with the range to hit the continental United States.
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