South Korea on Wednesday (June 22) denounced North Korea’s ballistic missile launch, saying it is clearly an act of provocation.
North Korea launched what appeared to be a second intermediate-range Musudan missile on Wednesday that flew about 400 km (250 miles), in what seemed to be its most effective test yet, hours after another launch failed, South Korea’s military said.
“A launch of a projectile using ballistic missile technology violates U.N. resolutions. And it is a clear provocation against us,” said South Korean unification ministry spokesman, Jeong Joon-hee, at a news briefing.
“We would advise that it is better for North Korea to put more efforts into peace on the Korean peninsula and their people’s livelihood which the North has been consistently saying,” Jeong added.
It was not immediately clear if the second Musudan launch, about two hours after the first, was considered a success or failure, or how the flight ended. However, the distance it covered was theoretically more than halfway towards the southwest coast of Japan’s main Honshu island.
The first missile was launched from the east coast city of Wonsan, a South Korean official said, the same area where previous tests of intermediate-range missiles were conducted, possibly using mobile launchers.
The launches were in continued defiance of international warnings and a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from using ballistic missile technology, which Pyongyang rejects as an infringement of its sovereignty.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016