South Korea says the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has launched another long-range ballistic missile that landed in the waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
Officials in Seoul and Tokyo say the missile can potentially strike the United States. Japan's defense ministry says it was an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a potential range of more than 15-thousands kilometers. According to South Korae, the projectile flew up rather than across. This is a method Pyongyang employs in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighboring countries. The launch followed the test of a shorter range missile on Sunday night. The D-P-R-K says its missile tests are in response to the persisting joint war games by the US and its regional allies and their hostile rhetoric. Pyongyang regards such moves as rehearsals for invasion.