North Korea fired off a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported early Tuesday evening citing military officials.
“North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea from a site in the vicinity of Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, at around 6:42 a.m.,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to Yonhap News Agency. JCS said the projectile flew about 37 miles, and was launched from the ground instead of a submarine.
In a statement, U.S. Pacific Command said it tracked what it believed to be a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile launched from the land-based facility near Sinpo for a duration of nine minutes until it landed in the Sea of Japan.
U.S. Pacific Command said it is “fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security” and added that North American Aerospace Defense Command “determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.”
North Korea test-fired a missile as recently as two weeks ago, which ended in failure, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The news Tuesday seemed to follow, within minutes, a CNN report about a senior White House official telling reporters that “the clock has now run out and all options are on the table” in regards to North Korea’s nuclear program.
Two days earlier, President Trump told Financial Times that the U.S. will “solve” the North Korea problem, with or without the help of China.
Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President XI Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in Florida later this week.
