North Korea launches ballistic missile

This is the first provocative move from North Korea since South Korea appointed Moon Jae-in as the country's new President on Wednesday.

Seoul, May 14: North Korea on Sunday launched a ballistic missile which flew around 700 km into the East Sea, the South Korean Joints Chief of Staff said.

"North Korea fired an unidentified missile at around 5.27 am on Sunday from an area in the vicinity of Kusong, North Pyongan province."

In response, President Moon has strongly condemned North Korea for the launch, describing it as a grave threat to regional security and a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

He also called on Pyongyang to reverse its course of provocations for the resumption of dialogue while warning that his administration would deal resolutely in order to ensure it would not miscalculate the situation.

"Even if dialogue is possible, we should show to North Korea that it's possible only in case of North Korea changing its attitude," Moon said, presiding over a session of the National Security Council.

The US Pacific Command, based in Hawaii, also announced that it detected and tracked the launch of the missile, which landed in the East Sea.

"The type of missile is being assessed, and the flight was not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile," it said.

"The US Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security."

The Japanese government said the North's missile flew for half an hour. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slammed Pyongyang for again violating the UN Security Council resolutions.

IANS