Society

North Korean missile launch suspected

Aug 24 (NHK) - Japan's government has announced that ballistic missiles are believed to have been launched from North Korea on Saturday morning.

It says that the missiles are not likely to have entered Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone.

The Defense Ministry is continuing to gather information.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says North Korea launched two projectiles from South Hamgyong Province toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday morning.

The South Korean military is gathering and analyzing detailed information together with the US military.

North Korea has fired projectiles six times over a period of more than three weeks from July 25 to August 16.

But this is the first time that missiles were launched since a US-South Korea joint military exercise ended on Tuesday.

According to Japanese Defense Ministry officials, it is possible that the missile was launched in a different trajectory from the series of short-range ballistic missiles that have been repeatedly launched since May this year.

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