N.Korea missile launched from sub last week appears same model as last year's -Japan minister

Reuters
·1 min read
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FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-metre tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from the Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), in Paju
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TOKYO (Reuters) - The ballistic missile North Korea launched last week appears to be the same model as the submarine-launched missile Pyongyang tested last October, Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said on Tuesday.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from a submarine on Saturday, days before the inauguration of new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to South Korea and Japan.

"The missile launched this time appears to be the same model as the new submarine-launched missile fired on Oct. 19, 2021," Kishi told a regular news conference.

"The string of missile launches while the invasion of Ukraine is under way is unacceptable," Kishi said.

North Korea last October test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka. Editing by Gerry Doyle)