North Korea fires short-range missile into sea, South Korean military says

Seoul: North Korea fired a short-range missile towards the sea off its East coast early Tuesday (today), the South's military said.

South Korea’s military earlier said a projectile fired from North Korea’s mountainous northern Jagang province at about 6:40am local time (21:40 GMT) flew towards the North’s eastern sea.

The South Korean military did not give any more details, while Japan’s defence ministry said it appeared to be a ballistic missile.

Details of the launch were being analysed by authorities of South Korea and US.

The announcement came just before North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) said no one could deny his country’s right to self-defence and to test weapons.

Last weapons test occurred earlier this month, when Pyongyang previously tested a “strategic” cruise missile and two railway-borne ballistic missiles. However, it is the third launch this month.

The North is banned from conducting ballistic missile tests under UN sanctions imposed over the nuclear-armed country’s weapons programme.

Earlier on Monday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency carried an article calling the United States "the most heinous human rights abuser in the world" for its sanctions policies on several countries.

On September 15, South and North Korea both test fired ballistic missiles, the latest volley in a race in which the rivals have been developing increasingly sophisticated weapons.

The North invaded the South in 1950 and fighting came to an end three years later with an armistice, leaving the two countries technically still in a state of dispute.

In addition, North Korea is facing food shortages, and has spent more than a year in isolation. It has shut its borders to keep out Covid-19, in the process cutting off trade with its closest ally China.

However, the situation has not stopped it from continuing with its weapons programme.

In August, North Korea restarted a reactor which could produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, the UN atomic agency said terming it a "deeply troubling" development.