North fires missile after U.S. mid-term voting ends

North Korea launched a missile into the East Sea on Wednesday after voting for the U.S. midterm elections had ended.

Debris from a North Korean missile that landed south of the de facto inter-Korean maritime border in the East Sea is on display outside the Defense Ministry in Yongsan District, central Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

North Korea launched a missile into the East Sea on Wednesday after voting for the U.S. midterm elections had ended.

The missile, believed to be a short-range ballistic missile, was fired at 3:31 p.m. from Sukchon County, South Pyongan province, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

South Korean defense officials said the country’s military has heightened its surveillance and is cooperating closely with the United States in response to the launch.

According to Japanese Defense Minister Yasuku Hamada, the missile flew approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles), peaking at a relatively low altitude of 50 kilometers before landing in the sea.

Hamada condemned the launch as a threat to peace and stability in the region and the wider world.

Wednesday’s launch came while votes were still being counted in the midterm elections in the United States.

In its response to a request for comment by Yonhap, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department said it “condemns the DPRK’s ballistic missile launch,” referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

“This launch is in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions unanimously adopted by the council and threaten peace and stability in the region,” the spokesperson added.

The State Department spokesperson repeated Washington’s stance that it is open to talks with Pyongyang, but blamed the regime for the lack of communication between the two sides.

“We continue to seek serious and sustained dialogue with the DPRK, but the DPRK refuses to engage,” the spokesperson said.

The official also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea, saying, “Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad.”

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command also released statement that said the latest missile launch did not pose an “immediate threat” to the United States or its allies in the region.

The North’s latest missile launch came after South Korean officials retrieved one of three SRBMs that the North fired on the morning of Nov. 2 from Wonsan, Kangwon Province.

That missile landed in international waters 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the first time that a North Korean ballistic missile flew south of the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border.

South Korean military officials said the missile seems to be an SA-5 surface-to-air missile, or an S-200 as the Soviets called them, which was first used in 1966.

The North is believed to have imported it from the Soviet Union in 1987.

A local military source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the missile was fired at a low angle, which shows that the North intentionally fired it across the NLL.

A South Korean government source who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on the condition of anonymity said Pyongyang might have fired the outdated missile to save maintenance costs.

“Once [a country] starts to mass produce missiles capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, they need to burn out their stocks of old missiles to save on maintenance,” said the source.

“So there’s a high chance that the North would fire a combination of these old and new missiles to raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]