AFP, SEOUL: North Korea fired another short-range missile off its east coast on Friday, South Korean officials said, as regional leaders met in Washington to discuss the threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
It was the latest in a series of North Korean missile launches during what has been an extended period of elevated military tension on the Korean peninsula, triggered by Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test on January 6.
The launch came as the South Korean coastguard reported that around 70 fishing vessels had been forced back to port after GPS navigation issues caused by North Korean radio-wave jamming.
South Korea’s defence ministry said the surface-to-air missile was fired at around 12:45 pm (0345 GMT) from the eastern city of Sondok.
The range and precise trajectory could not immediately be confirmed, a ministry official said. The South’s Yonhap news agency said it flew 100 kilometres (60 miles) into the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
The launch came in the middle of a two-day nuclear security summit being hosted by Barack Obama in Washington, at which North Korea has been the focus of the US president’s talks with the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan.