On Thursday, South Korea and Japan alleged that North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the East Sea.
Pyongyang fired an unnamed missile, according to a brief statement from the South Korean military. It was launched barely two days after Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s new president, was sworn in.
North Korea’s purported ballistic missile launch was also confirmed by the office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. “More updates to come,” it added in a Twitter message.
This comes as the UN-sanctioned country reports its first COVID-19 cases since the virus originally surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
It was Pyongyang’s second missile launch after a suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile was blasted toward its eastern flank on Saturday.
With the latest launch, North Korea has reportedly fired 16 missiles since the beginning of the year.