DPRK launches new missile over Sea of Japan

The Pentagon said it is assessing the situation and “will have more information soon”.

The missile, fired around midnight Saturday local time from Mupyong-ni in the country’s far northwest, splashed down into the Sea of Japan about 620 miles east of the launch site, a Pentagon statement said.

It was determined not to be a threat.

North Korea fired the missile shortly before midnight at Japan on Friday, just hours after the USA and Japan moved to step up sanctions against Pyongyang, following its first ICBM test earlier this month.

Despite its ongoing tests, many experts believe North Korea is a long way from having the technological capacity to place a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

And the July 4 test-firing of its first intercontinental ballistic missile indicated the regime also might be capable of striking the US mainland too. Defense officials are working on a more detailed assessment.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres blasted North Korea’s experimenting with a ballistic missile “of possible intercontinental range”, Sputnik quoted a spokesman as saying.

North Korean despot Kim Jong Un has repeatedly said he wants a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach the US.

The U.S. and South Korea conducted a precision firing drill in response to North Korea’s earlier intercontinental ballistic missile test Friday.

The missile was sacked from central North Korea around 11:42 p.m. Friday and flew for 45 minutes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. Japan’s coast guard is warning ships in the area to look out for debris and alert the government if anything is found, according to NHK, Japan’s national public broadcasting organization.

Within minutes of the launch, South Korean, Japanese and United States officials reported data about the location, range, apogee, and flight time of the missile.

In response to last night’s test, South Korea and the US conducted a joint military drill early on Saturday morning.

US President Donald Trump called it “only the latest reckless and unsafe action by the North Korean regime”. It has conducted five nuclear tests since 2006.

“During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance”, Dunford spokesman Captain Greg Hicks said in a statement.