South Korea’s military announced on Wednesday that North Korea had fired a long-range ballistic missile, days after Pyongyang issued a threat to shoot down any US spy plane that violated its airspace. “North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile into the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, using the Korean name for the Sea of Japan. She added, “The missile was fired on an upward trajectory and covered a thousand kilometers before it fell into the East Sea.” The General Staff said the launch was a “serious provocation that undermines peace and security on the Korean Peninsula” and violates UN sanctions against Pyongyang, calling on North Korea to put an end to such actions. North Korea threatened Monday to shoot down US spy planes violating its airspace, and condemned Washington’s plan to deploy a ballistic missile submarine near the Korean peninsula. A North Korean Defense Ministry spokesman stated that the United States had “intensified its espionage activities beyond wartime levels”.
