North Korea fired at least one projectile towards its eastern waters on Monday, South Korea’s military said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not immediately say whether the weapon was ballistic or how far it flew. The office of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan also detected the launch and described the weapon as a suspected ballistic missile.
The launch came days after South Korea flight-tested its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon on Friday, 9 October. North Korea also carried out a test on 3 October of what it described as a hypersonic intermediate-range missile.
Tensions on the peninsula have also risen after three South Korean soldiers were injured in land mine explosions near the inter-Korean border last month. South Korea’s military and the United Nations Command concluded that devices planted by North Korea caused the blasts. North Korea has denied responsibility.
North Korea has rejected US and South Korean offers to resume diplomacy, which has been stalled for years.
