North Korea Launches Another Missile, Criticizing 'Preview of Nuclear War'

Japan's Coast Guard and the South Korean military announced that North Korea launched a missile on Sunday that appears to be ballistic. According to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the missile was fired towards the waters east of North Korea. Reuters reported that about 20 minutes after the initial report of the missile launch, the Japanese Coast Guard stated that the missile had fallen. NTV reported that the North Korean missile seems to have landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. Prior to the missile launch, Pyongyang condemned the U.S.-led military display of power, calling it a 'preview of nuclear war.' Earlier, officials in Seoul and Tokyo had warned that nuclear-armed North Korea was preparing for missile tests, including one of its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles. All ballistic missile activities by North Korea are prohibited under United Nations Security Council resolutions. However, Pyongyang considers these activities a sovereign right to defend itself. Less than half an hour after the launch, North Korean state media published a statement from the Ministry of Defense criticizing 'military gangsters' in the United States and South Korea for what it described as escalating tensions through military exercises, displays of power, and nuclear war planning. In this statement, an unnamed spokesperson from the North Korean Ministry of Defense referred to the arrival of the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Missouri in the South Korean port city of Busan on Sunday. The spokesperson also criticized South Korea and the U.S. for holding the second meeting of the nuclear advisory group in Washington on Friday, which was held in the context of planning for a potential war and increasing military displays as a warning to North Korea. The U.S. has warned North Korea that any use of nuclear weapons would lead to the 'destruction of the Kim regime.' South Korea successfully launched its first spy satellite into space. South Korea reported that the first stage of the North Korean spy satellite missile exploded. Troop and weapon deployments at the border; North Korea has canceled its military agreement with South Korea.