North Korea fires short-range ballistic missile, South Korea says

(C) Reuters. FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 1, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Age

By Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday, according to South Korea and Japan, the latest in a barrage of weapons tests from the nuclear-armed state.

The missile, launched from the Dongchang-ri site on the west coast around 11:05 a.m. (0205 GMT), flew some 800 km (500 miles) before hitting a target, according to a South Korean military statement. Japan’s Defense Ministry said the missile flew as high as 50 km (30 miles).

Seoul has condemned the recent ballistic missile launches by the North as a “clear violation” of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Soon after the launch, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said the U.S. deployed a B-1B strategic bomber to a joint air drill, which Seoul and Washington say they are holding to strengthen extended deterrence.

The launches have also prompted criticism from Tokyo and Washington.

“North Korea’s behaviour threatens international peace and security, and is unacceptable,” Japan’s state minister of defense, Toshiro Ino, told a news conference, adding that Japan had protested strongly via North Korea’s embassy in Beijing.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Sunday’s launch does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or its allies. But the recent missile launches highlight the destabilising impact of Pyongyang’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, it said in a statement.

The North on Thursday fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, hours before South Korea’s president flew to Tokyo for a summit that discussed ways to counter the North.

Pyongyang said Thursday’s ICBM launch was a warning against the U.S.-South Korea military drills, state media KCNA reported.

South Korean and American forces kicked off the 11-day drills, dubbed “Freedom Shield 23”, a week ago on a scale not seen since 2017.

North Korea also criticised the U.S. and U.N. Secretary-General Ant?nio Guterres, KCNA reported later in the day, for bringing up its human rights abuses at a recent informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council, describing the move as a “serious challenge” to its sovereignty.

“The U.S. launched a ‘human rights’ campaign against the DPRK in the U.N. arena while staging the aggressive joint military exercise which poses a grave threat to our national security,” the North Korea’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. was quoted as saying by state media.