A man watches a TV screen showing a file footage of the missile launch conducted by North Korea, at Seoul Railway Station in South Korea. (AP)
Seoul, South Korea — North Korea ignored UN resolutions by firing a medium-range ballistic missile into the sea yesterday, Seoul and Washington officials said, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered weapons tests linked to its pursuit of a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile fired from a site north of Pyongyang flew about 800 kilometers before crashing off the North’s east coast. It was the first medium-range missile launched by the North since it fired two in April 2014, said a South Korean defense official, requesting anonymity citing department rules.
A senior US defense official said the missile appeared to be a Rodong type fired from a road-mobile launcher. The test violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from engaging in any ballistic and nuclear activities, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The launch came as North Korea condemned ongoing annual South Korean-US military drills that it sees as an invasion rehearsal. The two sets of drills are the largest ever, in response to the North’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year. One of the drills, computer-simulated war games, was to end later
Friday while the other, field training, is to continue late April.
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