PYONGYANG, North Korea — In an implicit challenge to President Donald Trump, North Korea fired a ballistic missile early Sunday in what would be its first such test of the year.
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The U.S. Strategic Command confirmed that the missile was launched into the Sea of Japan.
The medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile — not an intercontinental missile as North Korea recently threatened to fire — was launched from near the northwestern city of Kusong, the command said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visiting Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, said late Saturday that the test was "absolutely intolerable."
"I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent," Trump said after Abe spoke.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said the missile launch was "not only an explicit and clear violation of related (United Nations Security Council) resolutions, but also a grave threat to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community as a whole."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s Day address that his country was close to launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. The remark was seen as an apparent threat that Pyongyang was close to acquiring the know-how to strike the United States.
The pace of North Korea’s military development has increased under Kim, who came to power in 2011 after the death of his father. The nation conducted two nuclear tests last year.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s chief policy adviser, said Trump and Abe had displayed "an important show of solidarity" between their nations.
"The message we’re sending to the world right now is a message of strength and solidarity; we stand with Japan and we stand with our allies in the region to address the North Korean menace," Miller said during an interview Sunday with ABC’s This Week."
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was fired from around Banghyon, North Pyongan Province, which is where South Korean officials have said the North test-launched its powerful midrange Musudan missile on Oct. 15 and 20.
The military in Seoul said that the missile flew about 500 kilometers. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that while determinations were still being made, it was not believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The missile splashed down into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the U.S. Strategic Command. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the missile did not hit Japanese territorial seas.
Though Pyongyang has been relatively quiet about the transfer of power to the Trump administration, its state media has repeatedly called for Washington to abandon its "hostile policy" and vowed to continue its nuclear and missile development programs until the U.S. changes its diplomatic approach.
Just days ago, it also reaffirmed its plan to conduct more space launches, which it staunchly defends but which have been criticized because they involve dual-use technology that can be transferred to improve missiles.
Kim Dong-yeop, an analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said the missile could be a Musudan or a similar rocket designed to test engines for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. Analysts are divided, however, over how close the North is to having a reliable long-range rocket that could be coupled with a nuclear warhead capable of striking U.S. targets.
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is also the acting president, said his country would punish North Korea for the missile launch. The Foreign Ministry said South Korea would continue to work with allies, including the United States, Japan and the European Union, to ensure a thorough implementation of sanctions against the North and make the country realize that it will "never be able to survive" without discarding all of its nuclear and missile programs.
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