South Korea Accuses North of Firing Ballistic Missile

By Staff, Agencies  

South Korea announced on Saturday that its northern neighbor has fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast.

Saturday’s move by North Korea comes ahead of upcoming US-South Korea table-top drills in Washington next week.

“North Korea fires an unidentified ballistic missile into [the] East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

The top military officials did not say what type of missile was launched or how far it flew. Japan’s Coast Guard also said North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile.

The launch came a day after North Korea’s Foreign Ministry threatened to take “unprecedentedly” strong action against South Korea after it announced planned military exercises.

The North Korean statement on Friday accused Washington and Seoul of planning more than 20 rounds of military drills this year, including large-scale field exercises, and described its rivals as “the arch-criminals deliberately disrupting regional peace and stability.”

The US tabletop exercise, scheduled for Wednesday, would set up possible scenarios where North Korea uses nuclear weapons and would explore how to cope with them militarily and formulate crisis management plans, South Korea’s Defense Ministry has aid.