North Korea ‘fires ballistic missile’ after Seoul demands apology over border mine blasts | World News

North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast on Saturday, South Korea and Japan have said. 

It extends a recent run of weapons tests during heightened tensions over border land mine explosions that injured three South Korean soldiers.

The missile was launched from the Wonsan area at around 6.30am on Saturday (9.30pm UK time) and travelled more than 434 ​miles (700km), the South Korean military said in a statement.

Japan’s coast guard, in an emailed statement citing ⁠the Japanese defence ministry, said the object may have been a ballistic missile and appeared to ​have landed, issuing a warning to ships.

South Korea’s military said it has increased its monitoring ​of further missile tests and will share intelligence with Japan and the US.

Seoul’s presidential national security office called for North Korea to immediately stop its repeated ballistic launches, describing them as a violation of UN Security Council sanctions and a “serious act that does nothing to help manage the current situation”.

The US Pacific Command said the launch “does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies”.

North Korea has launched missile tests more than 10 times this year. Pyongyang has sometimes said it has been testing new types of weapons systems.

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Some of the tests came after ‌North ⁠Korea protested joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.

On Friday, Pyongyang’s Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement that dismissed Seoul’s demand for an apology for what it said were North Korean mines that seriously wounded South Korean soldiers.

The soldiers were on a reconnaissance ​mission inside the 2.5-mile border on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim’s sister called the demands “utterly pathetic”, saying the North intends to sever ties with the South indefinitely.

In a previous statement, she denied North Korean responsibility for the explosions and threatened to retaliate if South Korea fires on North Korean troops at the border.

The missile ​test may be ⁠an attempt by Pyongyang to draw a reaction from South Korea to the sister’s statement, said Cheong Seong-chang, vice president at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, a research centre on North Korean affairs.

North ⁠Korea ​may also have tested a new type of missile, he ​added.

North Korea has dramatically increased its hostility towards the South in recent years, disavowing unification as a national goal and ​calling South Korea its “primary foe”.

The launch on Saturday was the latest in a series of North Korean military displays in recent weeks, including missile tests, live-fire exercises and the commissioning of a new warship.

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Kim Jong Un unveils the country’s largest-ever warship

Kim has largely abandoned diplomacy with the US and Seoul since his nuclear negotiations with Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.

He has made Moscow the new focus of his foreign policy, sending thousands of soldiers and large amounts of weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mr Trump in August scaled back a major military exercise with South Korea in an apparent attempt to restart diplomacy with Kim, who has condemned such drills as preparations for an invasion.