North Korea fires medium-range ballistic missile — Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile on Tuesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a spate of banned weapons tests by Kim Jong Un's regime this year.

Tuesday's launch was the third ballistic missile test of 2024, after a solid-fuel one overseen by Kim in March and another tipped with a manoeuvrable hypersonic warhead in January.

It also comes less than two weeks after Kim supervised an engine test for a "new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile", according to North Korean state media, which has also said he oversaw "super large" rocket launcher drills and tank exercises this year.

Seoul's military "detected around 06:53 (2153 GMT) what is presumed to be a medium-range ballistic missile fired from Pyongyang area into the East Sea," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

"We have stepped up monitoring and are closely sharing relevant information with the US and Japan," they added.

Tokyo confirmed the missile launch, with the coastguard urging vessels to be vigilant and report any fallen objects without approaching them.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing unnamed government sources, reported that the missile "appears to have fallen in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone".

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the North had "repeatedly launched ballistic missiles" this year, adding that it was a threat to regional security and "absolutely unacceptable."

The launch comes just days after a Russian veto at the United Nations ended UN expert monitoring of North Korean sanctions violations, amid a probe into alleged arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

North Korea has yet to comment on the development.

It also comes just over a week before South Korea votes in a general election, in which the party of hawkish President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a tough line with Pyongyang, is seeking to win back control of the parliament.

Pyongyang has been under a raft of sanctions since its second nuclear test in 2009, but the development of its nuclear and weapons programmes has continued unabated.

So far this year, the nuclear-armed North