On Sunday, the news agency reported that North Korea fired a short-range missile that flew 570 kilometers, which landed in the Japanese Sea.
The missile's flight lasted 73 minutes at an altitude of over 6,000 kilometers and covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported, citing Japan's deputy defense minister, Shingo Miyake.
With a normal trajectory, the missile's flight range, taking into account the weight of the warhead, could reach 15,000 kilometers, which covers the entire territory of the United States, the deputy minister said.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff did not provide any details, the report noted.
Furthermore, Japan has lodged a strong protest with North Korea over the ballistic missile launch, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference on Monday.
"Those series of ballistic missiles fired by North Korea, and those actions by this country threaten peace and security of Japan, of the region and of the whole international community. This can never be tolerated and this firing of the ballistic missiles violates the UN [Security Council] resolutions. This is a grave issue which affects the safety of our people and via the embassy in Beijing we filed a powerful protest against North Korea," Hayashi told reporters.
The last ballistic missile launched by North Korea was on July 12. In total, the country has conducted 15 ballistic missile tests: three of them in 2017, seven in 2022, and five in 2023. This time, the flight time was the second longest after the launch of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile on July 12, 2023, which flew for 75 minutes.
The last ballistic missile launched by North Korea was on July 12.