SEOUL, Nov. 7 (UPI) — North Korea fired a suspected short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Friday, Seoul’s military said, one day after Pyongyang warned of a response to Washington’s latest sanctions.
“Our military detected a projectile presumed to be a short-range ballistic missile launched from the Taegwan area of North Pyongan Province into the East Sea at approximately 12:35 p.m. today,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.
The missile flew roughly 435 miles before splashing into the sea, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence “had been monitoring launch preparations in advance and immediately detected and tracked the launch.”
Japan’s Defense Ministry also reported the missile launch and said the projectile fell outside the country’s exclusive economic zone with no damage to planes or ships.
The launch comes one day after North Korea reacted angrily to sanctions levied by the U.S. Treasury Department against eight individuals and two entities connected with Pyongyang’s cybercrime and money laundering schemes.
“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it,” Pyongyang warned in a statement.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
Earlier this week, South Korea’s military said that the North fired about 10 artillery rockets toward waters off the northern Yellow Sea, coinciding with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to the DMZ truce village of Panmunjom.
North Korea’s last ballistic missile test came on Oct. 22, just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju.
Speculation had swirled that Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would resume their one-on-one diplomacy during the trip after the U.S. president said he “would love” a meeting.
No summit took place, but Trump said he would be willing to return to the region to meet Kim.
“We’ll have other visits, and we’ll work very hard with Kim Jong Un and with everybody on getting things straightened out because that makes sense,” he said in Gyeongju.
