November 28, 2017//-North Korea has fired a ballistic missile, South Korean news agency Yonhap is reporting. The launch took place north of the capital of Pyongyang.
“North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile eastward from the vicinity of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province, at dawn today”, South Korean army officials told the news agency.
The Pentagon said it had detected a “probable missile launch” at 6.30pm GMT.
It is unknown what type of missile was launched.
“South Korea and the United States are looking into the type and the trajectory of missile”, Al Jazeera correspondent Kathy Novak said from Seoul.
According to Reuters news agency, Japanese authorities said the missile flew for 50 minutes and landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The launch comes on the same day several governments said North Korea might be conducting another missile test soon.
Sources within the South Korean, Japanese and US governments told Reuters news agency they had reliable information North Korea was about to conduct another ballistic missile test.
First launch in months
Tuesday’s launch was the first since September 15, when North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the Japanese island Hokkaido, eventually crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
The September launch was condemned by leaders around the world.
“We heard from the South Korean Unification Ministry there could be a range of reasons why North Korea held off so long”, Novak said from Seoul, commenting on the pause between launches.
“According to the ministry, experts said maybe this pointed to North Korea being more willing to come to the negotiation table”, Novak added. “But some experts said it might be a seasonal thing. They claimed it is just much harder to launch missiles in this time of year.”
Last week, US President Donald Trump re-designated North Korea as a “state sponsor of terrorism”. The re-designation was part of Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” to isolate Pyongyang even more.
Trump said more economic sanctions were to be expected as a result of his decision.
On September 3, North Korea conducted its most powerful nuclear test ever, detonating a hydrogen bomb northeast of Pyongyang. That test, weeks before the United Nations General Assembly, angered global leaders.
The UN Security Council implemented new economic sanctions on North Korea as a result of that nuclear test.
Al Jazeera News
