The South Korean military said on Sunday (Jan 14) that North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea, days after it staged live-fire exercises near the tense maritime border with the South.
“North Korea fires unidentified ballistic missile towards East Sea,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said had it detected the launch but gave no further details.
Japan, meanwhile, said that an object, potentially a ballistic missile, was from North Korea and warned vessels to take care.
The previous launch
According to a report by the news agency AFP, North Korea fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile into the East Sea on Dec 18 last year. Sunday’s test came days after Pyongyang conducted a series of rare live-fire drills near the maritime border with the South, prompting counter-exercises and evacuation orders for some South Korean border islands.
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Earlier this week, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un branded South Korea his principal enemy and warned he would not hesitate to annihilate the South, as he toured major weapons factories.
“The historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea (South Korea),” Kim said on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
