On Thursday, North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile in the direction of the East Sea (Sea of Japan), South Korea’s military announced. This incident follows closely after Pyongyang’s unsuccessful attempt to launch a spy satellite earlier this week. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to provide further details, while Japan’s coastguard and prime minister’s office confirmed the missile launch and stated that they were gathering more information.
This most recent launch comes just days after North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a spy satellite on Monday, which resulted in a mid-air explosion. Seoul and Tokyo had both criticized the planned launch beforehand. Japanese broadcaster NHK aired footage of what appeared to be a flaming projectile in the night sky, which subsequently erupted into a fireball. According to NHK, the footage was taken from northeast China at the same time as the attempted launch.
Placing a reconnaissance satellite into orbit has been a high priority for Kim Jong Un’s regime for some time, and they claimed to have achieved this in November after two unsuccessful attempts the previous year.
