Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Friday (October 14) highlighted the increasing difficulty to identify and counter North Korea's recent ballistic missiles launches at an early stage.
“As it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify and counter ballistic missiles launched by North Korea at an early stage, it is also important to make constant efforts to improve our counterattack capabilities, and we will continue our efforts," he told reporters at a news conference.
The remark came after the missile launched at 1:49 a.m. on Friday (1449 Thursday GMT) from the Sunan area near North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, and flew about 700 km (435 miles) to an altitude of 50 km at a speed of Mach 6, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
North Korea has called its most recent series of missile tests a show of force against South Korean and U.S. military drills involving an aircraft carrier. Washington also imposed new sanctions last week targeting a fuel procurement network supporting Pyongyang's weapons programs.
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