South Korea’s military on Wednesday said that North Korea has fired an “unidentified projectile”.
“North Korea fired an unidentified projectile eastward,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without giving further details.
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It is reported that the Wednesday launch is the latest in a series of military provocations the nuclear-armed state has carried out this year, including its powerful intercontinental missile that can reach the continental United States.
Despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on its military modernisation drive, test-firing a slew of banned weapons.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also warned he could “preemptively” use his nuclear force to counter hostile forces at a meeting with military brass last week.
The latest firing came just days before the South’s incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed a tougher stance on the North, takes office next week.
Meanwhile, the United States is all set to urge the UN Security Council to vote during May to further sanction North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said.
Reuters reported that the US circulated an initial draft resolution to the 15-member council last month that proposed banning tobacco and halving oil exports to North Korea and blacklisting the Lazarus hacking group.
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Russia and China have already signalled opposition to boosting sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s March launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile – its first since 2017.
