North Korea launched a ballistic missile when the US Secretary of State visited South Korea

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired a projectile suspected to be a long-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from an area near the capital Pyongyang at 12 a.m. today (10 a.m. Hanoi time). The missile flew about 1,100 km before crashing into the eastern sea of ​​the Korean peninsula. The orbital altitude and flight time are unknown.

“We have increased surveillance, increased vigilance, shared information about North Korean missiles with the US and Japan, and maintained a high state of readiness to prepare to respond to further launches,” this agency said.

It is unclear what type of missile North Korea launched. Pyongyang’s IRBM tests last year used a new generation of solid-fuel missiles that can carry hypersonic glide vehicles designed to neutralize modern missile shields of the United States and its allies. .

North Korean officials have not commented on the information.

This is Pyongyang’s first ballistic missile launch since early November 2024. The projectile left the launch pad shortly after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with acting President Choi Sang-mok in Seoul to discuss alliance relations and efforts to deal with the threat from North Korea.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula increased last year, after North Korea released trash balloons into South Korea in response to South Korean activists using balloons to spread leaflets, sometimes with cash, rice or USB drive containing TV movies to the border.

North Korea in mid-October 2024 detonated mines, destroying many sections of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads connecting to South Korea. The routes are achievements of a period of reduced tension in bilateral relations.

Pyongyang is also accused of jamming the GPS navigation system in South Korea, affecting the operations of a number of ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in the neighboring country.

At the end of 2024 meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party, the country’s officials announced that they would conduct the “toughest counterattack strategy” against the US, accusing military cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul of having developed. into an “invading military bloc”.