Iran Press/Asia: South Korea's military said on Thursday, North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile, adding yet another complication into the stalled negotiations with the United States and peace talks with South Korea.
According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the launch took place at 4:30 p.m., in the Sino-ri area in the country's western Pyongbuk province, CNN reported.
Sino-ri is believed to be home to one of about 20 undeclared missile facilities that Pyongyang operates throughout the country, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Beyond Parallel program.
Thursday's firing comes less than a week after North Korea tested several new weapons systems, the first confirmed launches of their kind since 2017.
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North Korea fires short-range projectiles eastward – S. Korea
North Korean state media reported that the launches conducted on Saturday were part of a "strike drill" to "check the operating ability of large-caliber long-range multiple rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons."
But some weapons experts who analyzed the images of Saturday's launch released by North Korea say that Pyongyang may have test-fired a new, more advanced type of short-range ballistic missile -- the type of weapon that in theory could carry a nuclear warhead.
The North has slammed the South for ramping up its participation in 'war games' with the US, warning last week that a “corresponding response” was imminent in the face of such 'acts of perfidy.' The US and South Korea began two weeks of joint air force exercises last Monday, a more low-key version of the annual Max Thunder drills.
North Korea conducted 17 missile tests in 2017, provoking international outcry when several of the missiles passed over Japan. Last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began dismantling the North’s missile and rocket test site, a process that has reportedly been reversed in the wake of the failed Hanoi nuclear talks and promised to stop testing ICBMs.
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