North Korea Engulfed A Balistic Missile Into The Sea Of Japan, Minister Of Defense: It Is Unreceived

Illustration of North Korean missile launch. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile towards the Japanese Sea in the early hours of Friday, the Japanese government and the South Korean military said.

The missile, which launched at around 01:47 a.m. local time, is believed to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, about 370 kilometers from the coast, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

He said the missile appeared to have covered a distance of about 650 km at a maximum altitude of 50 km, adding there were no reports of damage to aircraft or ships.

It is possible that the missile flew on an irregular trajectory, Minister Hamada said, as reported by Kyodo News Oct. 14.

"It's completely unacceptable," Minister Hamada said of Friday's missile launch by North Korea, which is the eighth time since late September.

Separately, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff of the military said North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile from the area near Pyongyang at around 1:49 a.m.

The move marks the latest in a recent series of test shootings by Pyongyang, including the one earlier this month that delivered missiles to the Japanese archipelago for the first time in five years.

North Korea recently launched a ballistic missile that contradicts UN Security Council resolutions amid growing speculation that it could conduct its seventh nuclear test in the near future.

Meanwhile, the United States State Department condemned the launch of ballistic missiles, saying Washington was continuing to seek "serious and sustainable dialogue" with North Korea, but Pyongyang refused to engage.

Earlier, the South Korean military said that more than 10 North Korean military aircraft flew to areas near the no-fly zone between countries from Thursday night to early Friday, prompting Seoul to deploy fighter jets.

North Korea's military aircraft reached a point about 5 km north of the no-fly zone on the west side of the Korean Peninsula and a point about 7 km north of the zone on the east side, the military's JCS said.

North Korea's official media said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, the South Korean army "launched artillery fire for about 10 hours near the front defense area" of North Korean soldiers.

"We are taking strong military action," the spokesman said in a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).