Tokyo, Japan(CNN) North Korea on Sunday launched a suspected ballistic missile, the latest in a series of provocative actions that its neighbors have criticized as threatening peace in the region.
The missile was launched shortly after 11 am local time, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense and South Korea’s military.
The missile reached a maximum altitude of approximately 50km (31 miles) and flew a distance of approximately 800km (497 miles), according to Japan’s defense ministry. It was fired from the Dongchang-ri area of North Pyongan province in North Korea and landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the South Korean military.
After it landed, the Japan Coast Guard warned all ships to wait for more information; not to approach fallen objects; and to report anything suspicious.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military has strengthened surveillance and monitoring in preparation for further launches “while maintaining a full readiness posture through close cooperation with the US.”
The news follows a series of missile tests by North Korea, including the launch of a long-range ballistic missile on Thursday as leaders from South Korea and Japan met in Tokyo, and the firing of two cruise missiles. from a submarine and two short-range ballistic missiles days before.
‘A clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions’
The governments of Japan and South Korea strongly condemned Sunday’s missile launch, which they said was a “clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
Pyongyang’s repeated launches “threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community,” Japan’s defense ministry said in a statement.
Pyongyang’s latest tests coincided with springtime joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea — the biggest war games the allies have held in five years.
Ahead of the 11-day Freedom Shield exercises, North Korea threatened to mount the “strictest resistance against the most brutal plot of the US and its followers.”
Sunday’s ballistic missile launch came a day after North Korea admitted that about 800,000 of its citizens had volunteered to join or re-enlist in the country’s military to fight against the United States.
State newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Saturday that about 800,000 students and workers across the country have expressed a desire to enlist or re-enlist in the military to oppose the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions over military exercises.
North Korea often responds to what it sees as “provocations” by the US by making aggressive threats. Experts say that in addition to the joint military exercises and the meeting this week between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese leader Fumio Kishida it is no exception to the plan of US President Joe Biden will host Yoon and his wife at the White House next month.
The state visit is the second of Biden’s presidency, which emphasizes close ties between the US and South Korea, and will take place on April 26. The conservative Yoon and his administration are working to strengthen the US-South alliance. Korea is a key foreign policy priority. Biden, as well, is seeking to nurture the relationship, including a symbolic visit to Seoul in May 2022, his first stop on his inaugural trip to Asia as president.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told CNN recently that in response to the drills and the summits, Pyongyang may “order missile launches at higher ranges, will attempt a spy satellite launch, demonstrate a solid-fuel engine, and perhaps even conduct a nuclear test.”
With a previous report from CNN’s Gawon Bae