Pyongyang May Have Test-Fired Missile of New Type - Reports

Sputnik News

03:26 14.05.2017(updated 03:27 14.05.2017)

North Korea may have fired a missile of a new type, Japanese experts suggested after analyzing the trajectory of the projectile's flight, local media reported.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Japanese experts do not rule out the possibility that North Korea could test a missile of a new type, as the missile reached a very high altitude, Japanese media reported on Sunday citing government sources.

According to the Kyodo news agency, such an assumption was made on the basis of the analysis of the trajectory of the missile's flight. There is a high probability that the missile launch was carried out at a steep trajectory, and it means that the missile flew at a high altitude, the media outlet said.

The maximum flight altitude of the North Korean missile, launched earlier on Sunday, amounted to over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), the media outlet said earlier citing government sources.

Earlier in the day, media reported citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff that Pyongyang had launched an unidentified missile, presumably a ballistic one, on Sunday in the vicinity of Kusong, North Pyongan Province, which flew about 430 miles and fell in the Sea of Japan.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the missile presumably flew for 30 minutes not reaching the Japanese exclusive economic zone.

Following the launch, the Japanese and South Korean governments convened meetings of national security councils.

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