N Korea fires ballistic missile after US, S Korea, Japan joint drills
The launch came hours after the United States and South Korea wrapped a new round of naval drills off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
The missile seems to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone at sea, the Japanese government said.
North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea, the South's military said, in the latest in a blitz of launches amid tensions over US-led military exercises in the region, South Korean news agency Yonhap has reported.
The South Korean military's joint chiefs of staff announced the launch — the seventh in two weeks — without giving further details, Yonhap said on Sunday.
The Japanese prime minister's office also confirmed the launch on Twitter.
"North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow," the office said.
[Emergency alert]
— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) October 8, 2022
North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow.
The missile seems to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone at sea, the Japanese government said, with the coast guard saying it had so far not received any reports of damage to Japanese ships, national broadcaster NHK reported.
The launch comes after joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, which Yonhap said concluded Saturday, and joint exercises between the United States, the South and Japan earlier in the week.
READ MORE: Why is the US sending world's biggest warship to North Atlantic?
'Reacting' to US threat
Sunday's launch was the latest in a flurry that included an intermediate-range ballistic missile fired Tuesday over Japan, prompting an alert for people in affected areas underneath to take cover.
North Korea on Saturday defended its recent flurry of missile tests as a legitimate counter to US military threats.
The military warned that the US redeployment of the aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula is causing a “considerably huge negative splash” in regional security, as it defended its recent missile tests as a “righteous reaction” to intimidating military drills between its rivals.
The North Korean Defence Ministry statement came a day after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan began naval drills with South Korean warships.
The UN prohibits North Korea from testing ballistic and nuclear weapons, but the country’s recent missile launch wreaked havoc in Japan, triggering an alert for some citizens in the north of the country to take shelter.
— TRT World (@trtworld) October 5, 2022
A look at North Korea’s history of missile launches pic.twitter.com/9ZR5unkYJt
The Reagan and its battle group returned to the area after North Korea fired a powerful missile over Japan earlier this week to protest the carrier group’s previous training with South Korea.
North Korea regards US-South Korean military exercises as an invasion rehearsal and is especially sensitive if such drills involve US strategic assets like an aircraft carrier.
North Korea has argued it was forced to pursue a nuclear weapons programme to cope with US nuclear threats. US and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North.
In the past two weeks, North Korea has fired 10 ballistic missiles into the sea in five launch events, adding to its record-breaking pace of weapons tests this year.
The recent weapons tests include a nuclear-capable missile that flew over Japan for the first time in five years and demonstrated a range to strike the US Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.
READ MORE: S Korea, US launch drills with aircraft carrier after North's missiles
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