North Korea launches ‘new type’ of missile

Kathmandu: North Korea has launched a ‘new type’ of ballistic missile that landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North Korean missile was launched at a lofted angle on Thursday from a location near the capital Pyongyang at 7:23am (22:23 GMT on Wednesday).

South Korean broadcaster YTN, citing a military official, said the test launch could have involved a new type of weapon displayed at recent military parades, and that it was not ruling out the possibility that the projectile was a solid-fuel missile.3

The missile, suspected to be intermediate-range or longer, flew for about 1,000km (621 miles) in the direction of the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, before falling into the sea, the JCS added, describing the launch as a ‘grave, provocative act’.

The launch prompted Japan to issue initial warning to the residents of northern island of Hokkaido. But the government later corrected and retracted the warning, saying the analysis showed no possibility of missile landing near Hokkaido.