North Korea launched another unidentified missile on the east coast on Saturday, just three days after the city of Pyongyang fired one.
“North Korea fires at least one projectile into East Sea,” South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said while referring to the Sea of Japan, according to AFP.
Warning its vessels to stay vigilant, Japan’s coast guard said that North Korea had fired off an object that appeared to be “a ballistic missile,” citing data from its Ministry of Defense.
The missile launch marks North Korea’s 15th weapons test this year so far, amid warnings that the country could conduct a nuclear test. It also comes just days before South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol’s takes office on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, North Korea test-fired what its Southern counterpart and Japan believe was a ballistic missile. However, there were no comments about a weapon test by Pyongyang’s state media, which frequently reports on missile tests.
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Undeterred by international sanctions, North Korea has continued to bolster and expand its weapon testing this year, all the while paying no heed to the United States’ offer for a talk.
At a military parade on April 25, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared his plans to ramp up nuclear activities.
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“True peace can be trusted and national dignity and national sovereignty can be guaranteed by the powerful self-defense force that can overcome the enemy,” Kim said in a statement, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The 38-year-old said that the key aim of his nuclear plans was “to deter war,” but if any nation dared to “take away the fundamental interests of our country, our nuclear force will have no choice but to carry out its second mission,” he said in April, without elucidating what a second mission would consist of.