North Korea has fired a projectile the country claims to be a space launch vehicle, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message, just days after after leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang planned to put a reconnaissance satellite in orbit.
(Bloomberg) — North Korea has fired a projectile the country claims to be a space launch vehicle, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message, just days after after leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang planned to put a reconnaissance satellite in orbit.
Japan issued a missile alert for the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which it later lifted. South Korea warned residents of Seoul to take shelter, an alert it later said was sent in error, according to Yonhap.
A projectile was likely launched about 6:28 am, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. Japan’s Ministry of Defense said the projectile may be a ballistic missile. Broadcaster NHK earlier warned residents of Okinawa to stay inside sturdy buildings and keep away from windows.
Japan’s Coast Guard said the missile had likely already fallen.
Japan and South Korea said earlier this week that any launch using ballistic missile technology would be a breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Both countries urged North Korea to abandon the launch.
While North Korea has launched a barrage of missiles this year, it last launched a space rocket in February 2016, when the country claimed to have put an observation satellite into orbit as part of what it said was a lawful space program. The satellite is thought to have never reached orbit.
(Adds more details of retracted warnings)
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