South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired a ballistic missile off the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula on Sunday.
The joint chiefs said the missile was fired at around 7.52 a.m. local time from the Sunan area of North Korea.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said North Korea had launched "at least one ballistic missile", which flew a range of 300 kilometers (186 mi) and a maximum altitude of 600 kilometers (373 mi).
Sunday's missile firing is Pyongyang's first in local time since January 30, when it claimed it was the Hwasong-12 intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017. Sunday's test was of a short-range missile. According to estimates provided by the test, Japan.
According to the Blue House, South Korea's presidential office, South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) said the launch for peace stabilization was "undesirable" while the world is trying to resolve the Ukraine war.
The NSC also expressed "deep concern and grave regret" over the launch, which marks the eighth missile test this year, and urged the North to "immediately stop actions contrary to peaceful solutions through diplomacy".
The latest launch comes two weeks before South Korea's presidential election on March 9, in which North Korea is likely to be a major election issue. If conservative candidate Eun Suk Yeol succeeds, analysts expect him to take a more tough stance against the North than current President Moon Jae-in.
Speed up missile test
According to state media, North Korea has intensified its missile tests in 2022, announcing plans to strengthen its defenses against the United States and evaluate "the resumption of all temporarily suspended activities". is of.
In the first four weeks of 2022 alone, North Korea conducted seven missile tests, but none of them were among its longest-range missiles.
During the Trump presidency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un tested intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could theoretically reach the continental US, taking advantage of those tests in meetings with the then US President. Last year, during US President Joe Biden's first term, North Korea conducted eight tests - none in range of ICBMs.
Analysts suggest that increased testing this year shows that Kim is striving to meet both domestic targets and shows an increasingly turbulent world that Pyongyang remains a player in the struggle for power and influence. Is.
"North Korea is not going to do anyone a favor to keep quiet while the world deals with Russia's aggression against Ukraine," Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Iwa University in Seoul, said after Sunday's test.
"Pyongyang has an ambitious program of military modernization. The power and legitimacy of the Kim regime has always been linked to testing better missiles."