South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, as reported by news agency AFP. This comes days after Pyongyang's failed attempt to launch a spy satellite. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not give additional details in its statement.
According to AFP, Japan's coastguard and prime minister's office said North Korea had fired a suspected ballistic missile. It further stated that they were gathering more information. Pyongyang said that North Korea's most recent attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit ended in a mid-air explosion on Monday, AFP reported. This came after Seoul and Tokyo had criticised the planned launch.
Japanese broadcaster NHK ran footage of what looked like a flaming projectile in the night sky, which then exploded into a fireball. According to AFP, the broadcaster claimed that it had filmed it from northeast China at the same time as the attempted launch. Putting a reconnaissance satellite into orbit has long been a top priority for Kim Jong Un, and it claimed to have succeeded in November after two failed attempts last year.
On Monday, a North Korean rocket carrying its second spy satellite exploded midair, cbs news reported, citing state media. This came after its neighbours strongly rebuked its planned launch.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency had stated that it launched a spy satellite aboard a new rocket at its main northwestern space center. But KCNA said the rocket blew up during a first-stage flight soon after liftoff due to a suspected engine problem.
Earlier, North Korea had notified Japan's coast guard about its plans to launch "a satellite rocket," with a warning to exercise caution in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the main Philippine island of Luzon during a launch window from Monday through June 3, as reported by CBS News.