North Korea launches ballistic missile into sea

North Korea has launched what appears to be a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing the defense ministry.

The projectile was launched at about 7:50am local time (around midnight GMT) according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bloomberg reported.

The launch from the western region into the sea off the country’s east coast is the latest in a series of ballistic missile tests by the North in recent months. During the previous test, carried out last month, the North fired three ballistic missiles into the sea.

The rockets fired on July 19 had a range of up to 600 kilometers (360 miles), and were presumed to have been Scud-types projectiles which have enough range to reach all of South Korea.

The recent tests, which violate UN Security Council resolutions, are believed to be the North’s way of retaliating against a US decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea.

The launch comes following the publication of Japan’s Defense White Paper which said that North Korea’s nuclear program poses a direct threat to Japan. The report claimed that most likely the North has mastered long-range ballistic missile technology capable of reaching more than 6,200 miles and has nuclear warheads that weigh under a ton. Such technology does not only make Japan vulnerable to a potential attack, but also the US mainland and any of its partners in South East Asia.