Finance
The North Korean military launched an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Monday, barely hours after launching a short-range missile, prompting speculation that the latest launch could be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
According to Yonhap, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the launch but provided no other specifics.
According to the JCS, North Korea fired a short-range missile from within or near Pyongyang at 10:38 p.m. Sunday, and it flew about 570 kilometers before plunging into the East Sea.
The missile launches came only days after South Korea’s First Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo suggested the North could launch an ICBM this month.
The firings came only days after Seoul and Washington held the second session of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) and agreed to finish developing rules for the planning and operation of a joint nuclear strategy by the middle of next year.
Following the launch on Sunday, the North’s defense ministry denounced the NCG summit as “an open declaration on nuclear confrontation” and chastised the United States for deploying big military forces to the Korean Peninsula this year.
The North’s fresh threats come as tensions remained high after Pyongyang rejected a 2018 inter-Korean military deal aimed to calm tensions and avert inadvertent conflicts along the border last month.
Seoul had temporarily halted the agreement in response to the North’s successful launch of its first military spy satellite on November 21.
According to the JCS, the North last fired a ballistic missile on November 22, although the launch apparently failed.
Source:IANS
