North Korea test fires missile

North Korea test-fired a missile into the sea off its east coast today, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said.

There had been indications that North Korea was planning to fire a missile.

The Pentagon had earlier cited a North Korean warning to ships to stay out of a sector of the Sea of Japan from Saturday to tomorrow.

Major Kim Ki-Beom, a spokesman at the Defence Ministry, said the missile was believed to be an anti-ship missile similar to one that North Korea test-fired on February 24.

That launch came on the eve of the inauguration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and amid escalating tensions over Pyongyang’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programmes.

South Korea was trying to determine whether the new test was successful. It had said the earlier one was a failure it appeared to have exploded in midair due to defects.

US officials had sought to minimise the significance of the earlier missile test, saying it involved a small weapon and not one of North Korea’s stockpile of long-range ballistic missiles.

North Korea has repeatedly accused the US of plotting an attack, and says its military manoeuvres are defensive.