South Korea's military detected the launch from the North's capital region around 2:50 a.m. Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said the missile travelled about 400 k🍎ilometers (250 miles) before falling into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launch “a grave provocation” that hurts peace and security on the Korean Pen✤insula and around the world. It said South Korea closely monitors North Korean moves in coordination with the United States and maintains a readiness to deal with any 🌟provocations.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the launch highlights “the destabilising impact” of North Korea's unlawful weapons p𝐆rograms. It said U.S. commitments to the defense ofౠ South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.”
North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles last year. Some experts say the country eventu🔴ally aims to boost its weapons arsenals and increase greater pressures on its rivals to win concessions such as sanctions relief.
On Saturday, North Korea fired three short-range ba꧒llistic missiles toward the country's eastern water.
The North's missile launch for a second straight day coul💙d be a response to rival South Korea's recent rocket test related to its plan to establish a space-based surveillance to better monitor North Korea. On Friday, South Korea's military said it test-launched a solid-fueled rocket, a type of a space launch vehicle that it plans to use to put its first spy satellite into orbit in coming years.
Animosities between the rival Koreas have deepened since early last week, when South Korea accused Nor𝔉th Korea of flying drones across the countries' heavily fortified border for the first time in five years and sent its own drones toward the North.
South Korea acknowledged it failed to shoot down any of the five North Korean drones it said were found south of the border. But South Korea has vowed to bolster its aꦓir defense netwo﷽rk and get tough on future provocations by North Korea.
