The launch got here as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the dying of chief Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il.
South Korea has accused the North of firing a short-range ballistic missile amid tensions within the peninsula.
Sunday’s launch got here as North Korea condemned the United States-led navy’s exhibits of power, together with the arrival of a submarine in South Korea as tantamount to “a preview of a nuclear battle”.
The missile was launched from the Pyongyang space in the direction of the East Sea at round 10:38pm (13:38 GMT) on Sunday and flew about 570km (354 miles) earlier than falling into the ocean, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Employees (JCS) mentioned, referring to the physique of water also referred to as the Sea of Japan.
The launch adopted warnings from officers in Seoul and Tokyo that nuclear-armed North Korea was making ready to test-fire a missile, together with one in all its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this month.
Japan’s Ministry of Defence additionally mentioned North Korea launched “what seems to be a ballistic missile”, with its coastguard including that it appeared to have already fallen.
JCS mentioned Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have “carefully shared info concerning North Korea’s ballistic missile”, which was launched two days after the US and South Korea held their second session of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Washington on Friday, the place they mentioned nuclear deterrence within the occasion of battle with the North.
A spokesperson for the North’s Defence Ministry on Sunday slammed the allies’ plans to increase a key annual joint navy drill subsequent 12 months to incorporate a nuclear operation drill and warned of “a preemptive and lethal counteraction”.
“That is an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the usage of nuclear weapons towards the DPRK a fait accompli,” the assertion carried by the KCNA information company mentioned, utilizing the official acronym for North Korea.
“Any try to make use of armed forces towards the DPRK will face a preemptive and lethal counteraction.”
All of North Korea’s ballistic missile actions are banned by United Nations Safety Council resolutions, although Pyongyang defends them as its sovereign proper to self-defence.
The missile launch additionally got here as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the dying of chief Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, who died on December 17, 2011.
North Korea final 12 months declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear energy and has repeatedly mentioned it would by no means quit its nuclear programme, which the regime views as important for its survival.
Final month, Pyongyang efficiently put a navy spy satellite tv for pc into orbit. It has since claimed its eye within the sky was already offering photographs of main US and South Korean navy websites.
The UN Safety Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes because it first carried out a nuclear check in 2006.
Washington and its allies have additionally expressed considerations a few potential arms alignment between North Korea and Russia.
They fear that Kim is offering badly wanted munitions to assist Russian President Vladimir Putin wage the battle in Ukraine in trade for Russian expertise help to improve his nuclear-armed navy.
