North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Eastward Toward Sea as Vladimir Putin Orders Nuclear Forces on Highest Alert

 

North Korea on Sunday fired what is believed to be a medium-range ballistic missile eastward toward the sea, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Reuters reported: 

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea had fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast from a location near Sunan, where Pyongyang’s international airport is located. The airport has been the site of missile tests, including a pair of short-range ballistic missiles fired on Jan. 16.

The missile fired on Sunday flew to a maximum altitude of around 620 km (390 miles) and to a range of about 300 km (190 miles), the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. 

The United States condemned North Korea’s missile launch and begged Pyongyang to engage in dialogue, in a statement to Yonhap:

“The United States condemns the DPRK’s ballistic missile launch,” the department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

“This launch, like the other launches earlier this year, is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and demonstrates the threat the DPRK’s illicit weapons of mass destruction and missile programs pose to the DPRK’s neighbors and the region as a whole,” the official added.

“We stand with the international community to call on the DPRK to abide by Security Council resolutions, refrain from further provocations, and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue,” the department spokesperson said, asking not to be identified.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile while Vladimir Putin is threating to nuke the West.

Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on highest alert on Sunday.

Putin justified his actions after top NATO officials made “aggressive statements against our country.”