North Korea fires ballistic missile into sea of Japan

April 5, 2017

SEOUL- North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, amid growing international tensions over its nuclear and missile development. The move came amid the ongoing US-South Korean joint military drills and ahead of a two-day summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Florida from Thursday. Launched at around 6:42 a.m. (9:42 p.m. Tuesday GMT), the missile traveled about 60 kilometers from its eastern coastal city of Sinpo after reaching as high as 189 kilometers from the surface, according to the South Korean military and other sources. The US Pacific Command said that the missile blasted off from a land-based facility near Sinpo, initially assessing it to be a medium-range ballistic missile. A South Korean military source said the missile is believed to be the Pukguksong-2, a new-type, solid fuel-powered missile based on submarine-launched ballistic missile technology. The North fired a Pukguksong-2 missile into the Sea of Japan on Feb. 12. At a hastily arranged news conference in Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the latest missile is estimated to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The Japanese government has made a strong protest to North Korea via its embassy in Beijing, Suga said. Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada told reporters that the missile was apparently fired to the northeast and that it reached "no notable altitude." (Jiji Press)