LONGER-RANGE WEAPON
North Korea tests missile as South’s new leader takes reins
South Korea says after National Security Council meeting there will be no more dialogue unless North changes attitude
Tokyo/Seoul — North Korea has fired a ballistic missile in defiance of calls to rein in its weapons programme, days after a new leader in rival South Korea came to power pledging to engage it in talks. The US Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile, fired on Sunday, but it was "not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile". Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said the missile could be of a new type. The missile flew 700km and reached an altitude of more than 2,000km, according to officials in South Korea and Japan, higher than an intermediate-range missile North Korea successfully tested in February. North Korea is believed to be developing a missile tipped with a nuclear weapon that is capable of reaching the US. Kim Dong-yub, of Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said he estimated a standard trajectory would give it a range of about 6,000km. Japan said the missile flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea betwe...
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