North Korea has launched a short range ballistic missile to the Sea of ​​Japan (called the East Sea in both Koreas), as reported by the South Korean Army and the Japanese authorities.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected this Sunday the new Pyongyang test, after the North launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday that, according to the regime, is the most powerful potential in your arsenal.

Japan’s Defense Ministry also detected the launch that occurred at about 11:05 a.m. Sunday (2:05 a.m. GMT), noting that the missile landed about 15 minutes later in waters outside its exclusive economic space (EEZ).

The South Korean Army specified in a statement that the launch took place from the Tonchang-ri area and traveled about 800 kilometers before falling into the seawhile the Japanese Ministry of Defense indicated that the projectile reached a maximum height of 50 kilometers and could have flown in an irregular trajectory.

The JCS “continues to conduct an in-depth analysis of the launch details” with the United States, the statement said, adding that the allies will continue their “high intensity” military exerciseswhile maintaining their readiness to respond “overwhelmingly” to provocations from the North.

For his part, Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino said that the North’s continued weapons tests “are totally unacceptable and pose a threat to peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community”. The launch is considered a new response by Pyongyang to these joint maneuvers carried out by Seoul and Wahshington in the south of the peninsula, seen by the North as “a test to invade their territory and which he has promised to give “an unprecedented response”.

The intercontinental missile tested last Thursday crashed about 250 kilometers from the island of Oshima, which is located southwest of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, and was a Hwasong-17, according to the regime. That North Korean rehearsal took place hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in what was the first such summit in 12 years, in which both Presidents promised to strengthen their bilateral cooperation on security and with the US against Pyongyang.

North Korea launched two more short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of ​​Japan on Tuesday, the day after Seoul and Washington began their exercises. In addition, Pyongyang announced last Monday that on Sunday he had fired two strategic missiles from a submarine.