North Korea fires another missile, adding to barrage of launches
- Missile fired on Sunday, with South Korea and United States in the middle of 11-day joint military drills
- Seoul, Washington, Tokyo discuss latest provocation; G7 nations say they regret inaction, ‘obstruction’ by some UN Security Council members over tests
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday, Seoul’s military said, the fourth show of force in a week as South Korea and the United States stage major military drills.
Seoul and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from the North, which has conducted a series of increasingly provocative banned weapons tests in recent months.
South Korea and the United States are in the middle of 11 days of joint drills known as Freedom Shield, their largest in five years.
North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take “overwhelming” action in response.
“Our military detected one short-range ballistic missile fired from around the Tongchang-ri area in North Pyongan province at 11:05am (0205 GMT) towards the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Meanwhile, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) nations said on Sunday they regret inaction by the UN Security Council over North Korea’s missile tests.