North Korea fires another missile

The debris of the N Korean SA-5 missile according to South Korea military, in Seoul. Pic/AFP

North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, as South Korea said it had identified debris from an earlier launch as part of a Soviet-era SA-5 surface-to-air missile.

Japan's Coast Guard said the ballistic missile appeared to have fallen into the sea minutes after the launch was reported. The missile flew to an altitude of up to 50 km, and covered a range of 250 km, Japan's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters. He said the government lodged a strong protest with North Korea via diplomatic channels through Beijing, and Tokyo strongly condemned the launch.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also said it had detected launch of an unspecified ballistic missile from North Korea. The launch came after S Korea concluded an analysis of what it initially said was part of a N. Korean short-range ballistic missile that landed near S Korean waters last week.

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