A China Southern Airlines Co. airplane carrying 220 passengers passed through the trajectory of a rocket launched yesterday by North Korea from its east coast seven minutes earlier, a South Korean official said.
The passenger plane was headed to Shenyang in China after taking off from Narita airport in Japan when North Korea fired the missile at 4:17 p.m., South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min Seok said today by phone.
North Korea fired a total of seven short-range missiles yesterday, including four that South Korea's Defense Ministry estimated flew more than 150 km.