North Korea fires 'ballistic missile,' say South Korea, Japan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - South Korea and Japan claimed on Thursday that North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile toward the East Sea.

In a brief statement, the South Korean military said Pyongyang fired the unspecified missile. Its launch came just two days after South Korea's new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, was sworn in.

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also confirmed the suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea. "More updates to follow," it said in a statement on Twitter.

This comes as the UN-sanctioned nation reported its first cases of COVID-19 since the virus outbreak was initially reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

It was the second missile launch since Saturday when Pyongyang fired a suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile toward its eastern waters.

With the latest launch, North Korea has reportedly fired 16 missiles since the beginning of the year.