North Korea fired off at least one apparent ballistic missile on Saturday morning, amid a row between the two Koreas over a landmine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone last month.
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo said it had detected the launch of at least one of the missiles, saying later that it had already splashed down several minutes later.
The ministry later said the missile had landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its shores.
South Korea’s military also said the North had fired “an unidentified projectile” toward the Sea of Japan.
A day earlier, Pyongyang rejected as “groundless” Seoul’s accusation that North Korean mines had wounded the South Korean soldiers, dismissing the South’s demand for an apology, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang had not deliberately planted mines in the border zone.
She also said the incident had further reinforced the view that there would be no contact between the two Koreas, despite South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s “desperate efforts to create a space for communication,” a separate KCNA report said.
“We will never allow the slightest space or margin for any contact between the DPRK and the ROK nor stand face to face with them in any case,” she added, using the acronyms for the North and South’s formal names, respectively.
The nuclear-armed North last tested two missiles on Sept. 20, saying days later that at least one of the launches had been of “a new-type weapon” — an apparent hypersonic missile and glide vehicle that it is developing as a means of besting enemies’ defenses.
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