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North Korea test-fired a short-range missile on its east coast yesterday, South Korea’s military said, amid heightened tension over the isolated country’s nuclear and rocket programs.
The missile was fired from near the North Korean coastal town of Wonsan at 5:40pm (0840 GMT) and flew northeast for about 200 km (124 miles) and then “made contact” with the mainland, South Korea’s military said in a statement.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has presided over a string of short-range missile launches in recent weeks in what the communist-ruled nation’s state media has characterised as a response to UN sanctions imposed for its fourth nuclear test in January.
The US State Department said it was aware of the report of the missile firing.
“North Korea should refrain from actions and rhetoric that raise tensions in the region and comply with its international obligations and commitments,” said Katina Adams, a spokeswoman in the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau.
US President Barack Obama will meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tomorrow to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program, the White House said on Monday.
The meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington will take place the same day Obama talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.— Reuters.
derick.khumalo