Yonhap: North Korea fires ballistic missile toward East Sea

North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea's military said, as tensions heightened over a recent mine blast along the inter-Korean border that injured three South Korean soldiers, Report informs via the Yonhap news agency.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch at about 6:30 a.m. (GMT+9) from the Wonsan area, without elaborating on the type of missile launched.

The missile flew over 700 kilometers before landing at sea, the JCS said, adding it is analyzing the exact specifications of the launch with the US side.

South Korean and US intelligence authorities had tracked the launch since its early stage and shared relevant information, the JCS said in a notice.

"Our military is closely monitoring various movements by the North under a robust South Korea-US combined defense posture and maintaining the capability and readiness to respond decisively to any provocations," it added.

While the military did not specify the type of missile, it is reportedly analyzing its specifications while leaving open the possibility that it may have been a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) or an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

"There is a possibility that the North fired an IRBM with a reduced range," a government source said, adding the missile appears to be similar to the one launched on August 12.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea on August 12 in an apparent protest against the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise between the South and the US.

The military did not disclose the specifications of the missile at the time, but there was speculation that North Korea may have conducted a reduced-range test launch of an MRBM, with a range of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometers, or an IRBM, with a range of 3,000 to 5,500 kilometers.

The latest launch came amid heightened inter-Korean tensions following the September 21 blast of North Korean land mines inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. The incident left three South Korean soldiers injured, two of them seriously.

Saturday's launch came just 13 days after the North fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea within hours of each other on September 20.