North Korea fires long-range ballistic missile, Seoul says

North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a day after Seoul reported the North was making preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The launch, at a sharply raised angle, was from an area near the North’s capital, Pyongyang, at 7.10am, the Joint Chiefs said in a statement. It did not confirm whether the missile had dropped.

“It is believed the North Korea ballistic missile is a long-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

Japan’s Coast Guard also said North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile. The Japanese government said the missile was expected to land about 300km (190 miles) west of its Okushiri Island off its northern Hokkaido region.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defence Intelligence Command said the North had placed a mobile launcher at a location making preparations to launch what could be an ICBM around the time of the US presidential election, which takes place on Tuesday.

North Korea has conducted a series of ICBM test launches at a sharply steep trajectory to let the projectiles drop within much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific.