SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday, following joint South Korean and U.S. missile drills and the return of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the region in response to the North’s recent missile tests.
The missile launch was the sixth in 12 days and the first since North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan on Tuesday.
The Japan Coast Guard said North Korea may also have fired a second missile, adding that they appeared to have landed already.
Separately on Thursday, North Korea condemned the United States for repositioning a U.S. aircraft carrier in the waters off the Korean peninsula. The move posed a “serious threat” to the stability in the region, it said in a statement released by the reclusive nation’s foreign ministry.
(Reporting by Joori Roh; editing by Richard Pullin)
