North Korea on Monday fired a ballistic missile towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, the South Korean military said.
“North Korea has launched an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea,”the South Korean military said in a statement.
The launch of the missile on Monday coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Seoul for talks with a number of its key ministers.
The first in the New Year
Pyongyang’s missile test is the first in the new year and follows the last one in November, when North Korea launched a more advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
It was North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s first weapons test since he was accused of sending soldiers to help Russia fight in Ukraine.
In response, South Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in a show of force.
South Korea has been embroiled in a political crisis for weeks after its president Yun Suk-Sol tried to impose martial law on December 3, before he was later deposed, and an arrest warrant was issued against him.
North Korean state media has described the south as being in a state of “chaos” and political paralysis as investigators try to execute the arrest warrant for Yun.
