SEOUL/TOKYO – North Korea fired a missile its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, days after it unveiled a uranium enrichment facility and vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal.
Japan’s Defence Ministry said the North appears to have used a ballistic missile, and Japan’s coast guard said the projectile had already fallen.
The missile was launched off its east coast, Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korea’s military.
Japan’s coast guard, about 30 minutes after its first missile notice, said North Korea fired another ballistic missile. It had apparently also fallen, the coast guard said.
The North fired several short-range ballistic missiles last Thursday, the first such launch in more than two months, which it later described as a test of a new 600mm multiple launch rocket system.
The latest launch also came days after the isolated country for the first time showed images of centrifuges that produce fuel for its nuclear bombs, as leader Kim Jong Un visited a uranium enrichment facility and called for more weapons-grade material to boost the arsenal.
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul; Editing by Mark Porter and Ed Davies)
