North Korea launched yet another ballistic missile early Friday, also unleashing a barrage of artillery and flying a group of warplanes near the border with South Korea, with Seoul vowing to maintain an “overwhelming capability” to counter its neighbor to the north.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the nuclear-armed North had launched at least one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the Sea of Japan at 1:47 a.m. — the latest early morning launch, which observers say is likely an attempt to highlight Pyongyang's ability to fire missiles at any time from anywhere.
He said the missile, which may have flown on an irregular trajectory, had traveled about 650 kilometers, hitting a maximum altitude of around 50 km, before splashing into waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its coast.