North Korea has launched a ballistic missile, according to the South Korean military. Residents of the Japanese island of Hokkaido were called to evacuate.
Seol/Munich – North Korea fired a nuclear-capable missile on Thursday morning (April 13 local time), South Korean military officials said. The missile is said to have been fired towards the open sea at a range of possibly thousands of kilometers. Japan confirmed the rocket launch. South Korean and US intelligence services analyzed the details. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are currently escalating again.
North Korea fires missile at sea — evacuates Japanese islander
The General Staff in Seoul announced that the launch took place near the North Korean capital Pyongyang. The rocket then flew towards the Sea of Japan. The missile should have a medium or longer range. Further details were not initially known. The range of medium-range missiles exceeds 800 kilometers, that of long-range missiles 5500 kilometers. Such missiles can be armed with one or more nuclear warheads.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the missile fired by North Korea did not fall on Japanese territory. In the meantime, the residents of the Japanese island of Hokkaido have been called to evacuate. Local officials later gave the all-clear and said there was “no way” the missile would hit the island.
North Korea regularly tests nuclear weapons – expand war deterrence
In recent weeks, North Korea has fired a number of missiles and says it has also tested an underwater nuclear drone. Earlier this week, according to state media, ruler Kim Jong-un called for the country’s war deterrence capabilities to be expanded in a “more practical and offensive” way. At the end of March, after a missile test, he announced that North Korea would be further upgraded.
The North Korean state news agency KCNA reported that a meeting of the central military commission was about how to deal with the “escalating steps” taken by the USA and South Korea to “unleash a war of aggression”. Both states resumed their joint military exercises.
Already last year there was an unprecedented series of missile tests. UN decisions ban North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range. The country is subject to harsh international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and missile programs. (vk / dpa / AFP)
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