South Korea’s military said Wednesday that North Korea fired a ballistic missile eastward.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the “unidentified” missile flew eastward, with the South Korean Yonhap news agency saying it was launched toward the sea from North Korea’s east coast.
Pyongyang last launched ballistic missiles on May 8, when it fired several short-range projectiles off its east coast.
Wednesday’s launch is the first of its kind since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June.
During his presidential campaign, Lee actively raised the need to stop hostile moves towards North Korea.
Lee also called for ushering in “a new era of peaceful coexistence” with North Korea in his first address to the UN General Assembly last month, and reiterated the need to continue working toward denuclearization while promoting inter-Korean cooperation.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a number of weapons tests since his high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with US President Donald Trump failed in 2019.
Last month, Kim suggested he could return to talks if Washington dropped its demands for North Korea’s denuclearization, as Trump repeatedly expressed hope for a new round of diplomacy.
In August, Kim supervised the testing of two “new” air defense missiles, which coincided with joint military exercises between the US and South Korea.
Edited by: Carl Sexton