North Korea flouts ban, fires ballistic missile, says Seoul

The South Korean military's General Staff reported that North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile 570 kilometers (354 miles) into the Sea of Japan late Sunday night, offering no further details.

"Our military detected a suspected short-range ballistic missile launched from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea [or Sea of Japan] at around 22:38 today," Seoul said.

Seoul added that it had shared "information regarding North Korea's ballistic missile with the United States and Japan."

Seoul also announced that its military had been put on heightened alert.

Japan confirmed that North Korea had fired "what appears to be a ballistic missile," adding that it had apparently fallen into the sea.

North Korea is prohibited from testing ballistic missiles — which, depending on design, can be fitted with nuclear warheads — by a United Nations (UN) ban. Seoul called Sunday's launch a "clear violation" of the ban.

How has North Korea reacted to recent US-South Korean warnings?

The suspected launch comes on the heels of a recent, strongly worded statement by the US and Seoul warning that "any nuclear attack on the US or South Korea would result in the end of the North Korean regime in Pyongyang."

The statement was made after a US-South Korean Nuclear Consultative Group meeting on nuclear deterrence in Washington on Friday.

In response to the joint statement as well as news of upcoming expanded joint US-South Korean military exercises that will incorporate nuclear operation scenarios, Pyongyang threatened, "preemptive and deadly counteraction."

Further, Pyongyang said, "This is an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] a fait accompli."

The launch also coincided with the anniversary of the December 17, 2011, death of Kim Jong Il — the father of current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea, which last month successfully launched a spy satellite into orbit, claims it can now monitor US and South Korean military installations.

North Korea pursuing increasingly aggressive nuclear stance

Leader Kim Jong Un has adopted an increasingly aggressive stance that has involved more than 100 missile tests since early 2022 — some of which he claimed proved Pyongyang's ability to strike the mainland US — as well as authorization for preemptive nuclear strikes.

The country has also conducted numerous launches designed to simulate nuclear attacks on sites across South Korea.

The US and its allies say they are concerned that North Korea is providing arms to Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine in exchange for Russian nuclear technology that furthers Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

The US, South Korea, Japan and Australia all put new sanctions on Pyongyang after last month's satellite launch.

Pyongyang refers to itself as an "irreversible" nuclear power and vows never to give up its nuclear arms program, which it sees as its only guarantee for survival.

North Korea has criticized Washington's deployment of nuclear-capable strategic bombers and submarines to the region as destabilizing, denouncing it a "reckless military threat."

The UN Security Council has adopted numerous resolutions demanding North Korea scrap both its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

js/ab (AFP, AP, dpa)