North Korea fires ballistic missile in latest test: Seoul

The launch comes a week after a successful test-fire of a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead.

This undated picture released from North Korea’s official news agency on May 20, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with developers of the country’s longest range missile Hwasong-12, during a photo session in Pyongyang.

North Korea on Sunday fired a ballistic missile from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s military said, in the latest weapons test for a country speeding up its development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

The missile was fired from an area near Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 500 km, said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It didn’t immediately provide more details.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a National Security Council meeting at the presidential Blue House to discuss the missile launch, Mr. Moon’s office said.

The launch comes a week after North Korea

successfully tested a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead. Experts said that rocket flew higher and for a longer time than any other missile previously tested by North Korea, and that it could one day reach targets as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.

It was its 10th launch this year, after dozens in 2016, as it accelerates efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States -- something President Donald Trump has vowed “won’t happen”.

Pyongyang has long had missiles that can reach targets across the South and Japan.