North Korea fires ballistic missile as South gets ready for new President

SEOUL: North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, about a week after Pyongyang vowed to develop its nuclear forces “at the fastest possible speed”. The North’s 14th known weapons test this year comes days before the South’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, takes office on May 10. North Korea’s last test, on April 16, involved a new tactical guided weapon aimed at boosting its nuclear capability. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch at about noon in the Sunan area of the North’s capital of Pyongyang, home to an international airport and the area from which the North said it had fired its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-17, on March 24. The missile flew about 470 km (292 miles) to a maximum altitude of 780 km (485 miles), the JCS said.
“A recent series of North Korea’s ballistic missile launches poses a grave threat to the peace and stability of not only the Korean peninsula but also the international community,” the JCS said in a statement, urging the North to immediately stop such actions.
The offices of both outgoing and incoming South Korean presidents strongly condemned the launch, with Yoon’s team vowing to strictly respond to such actions and devise “more fundamental deterrent measures”.
The United States also condemned the test and repeated calls on Pyongyang to return to dialogue over its nuclear and missile programmes.
“Like the DPRK’s recent tests of at least three intercontinental ballistic missiles, this launch is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” a State Department spokesperson said. Referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, it said the launch showed the threat the weapons programmes pose to the country’s neighbours and the region. The US military urged Pyongyang to refrain from further destabilizing actions. “While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel, territory, or that of our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation,” it said in a statement. – Agencies