North Korea Appears to Have Fired Missile, Japan Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – North Korea appears to have fired off at least one missile on Thursday in a move that comes as it has threatened to break off sputtering nuclear talks unless US President Donald Trump offers up concessions by year end.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said that what appeared to be a North Korean ballistic missile landed outside of its territorial waters. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message that North Korea launched at least one unidentified projectile, without elaborating further, Bloomberg reported.
The latest test comes almost exactly two years to the date since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime last test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting all of the US Kim put a freeze on testing after that but resumed firing with a vengeance from May, sending off nearly two dozen missiles -- almost all of them short-range ballistic missiles.
Jiji Press of Japan said the latest test was of two missiles.
Kim’s testing freeze ushered in unprecedented diplomacy with Trump, leading to historic meetings in Singapore, Vietnam and the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. But at the same time, Kim has been busy churning out fissile material for bombs and developing new missile technology that could make the next big launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile even more concerning to Pentagon military planners.
