North Korea has fired another missile at sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s general staff said today. At around 8 a.m. (local time, 1 a.m. CEST), the Japanese authorities temporarily warned residents of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and planes in the region of the projectile. The warning was later lifted.
The Japanese television station NTV even reported that several projectiles were fired, which may have been ballistic missiles.
Two days after Kim’s call
The launch came two days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for the country’s war deterrent to the United States to be stepped up in “more practical and offensive” ways. North Korea had criticized the recent series of joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea as escalating tensions.
