North Korea launches ballistic missile toward sea of Japan: Seoul

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted a ballistic missile test toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Reports stated that the range, altitude, and speed of the projectile have not yet been specified.

On his part, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida claimed that a suspected ballistic missile fired from North Korea on Saturday is believed to have landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

"North Korea launched a ballistic missile that landed inside the exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido Island," Kishida said in an address aired by the NHK broadcaster.

"It appears the ballistic missile fired by North Korea landed within Japan's EEZ, west of Hokkaido," Kishida told reporters after a Japanese defense official said the missile was expected to land around 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Oshima island in northern Japan's Hokkaido.

The Japanese Defense Ministry assumes that Pyongyang may have launched an intercontinental ballistic missile along a so-called lofted trajectory, the broadcaster said.

Meanwhile, the Kyodo news agency specified, citing the Japanese Defense Ministry, that the ballistic missile was flying for 66 minutes, covering 900 kilometers (560 miles) with a maximum altitude of 5,700 kilometers.

DPRK previously launched a short-range ballistic missile on January 1, which became Pyongyang's first test launch in 2023.

South Korea's military said the DPRK fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, Yonhap news agency reported.

The launch came after a year of unprecedented weapons tests by the DPRK, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile the month before.

DPRK's ballistic missiles covered a 350 km distance with a maximum altitude of 100 km, all landing beyond the exclusive economic zone of Japan.

The missile launch came one day after Seoul announced it had carried out a successful test fire of a carrier rocket that works on solid fuel.

Despite heavy international sanctions over its weapons programs, Pyongyang has built up an arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, DPRK's test launches are part of the country's efforts to boost space reconnaissance capabilities.

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It is worth noting that two days earlier, South Korea referred to its neighbor DPRK as its "enemy" in a defense paper for the first time in six years, signaling a further hardening of Seoul's stance toward Pyongyang.

Since the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two countries have remained officially at war.

As South Korea weaves closer ties with the US, DPRK's leader declared last year that his country is an "irreversible" nuclear power, conducting weapon tests nearly every month, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).