N Korea tests another missile in latest Kim provocation

Bloomberg

North Korea conducted another ballistic missile test on Sunday, ratcheting up tensions in the region as Kim Jong Un persists with his nuclear program.
The projectile was fired from Pukchang, northeast of Pyongyang, at 4:59 p.m. and flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles), South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said. The U.S. is aware of the launch and believes the missile has a shorter range than the three tested most recently, an administration official said. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it landed in the Sea of Japan and didn’t reach the nation’s exclusive economic zone.
South Korea’s military said it will conduct further analysis of the launch, which comes just a week after North Korea tested a rocket that it said could carry a “large-size heavy nuclear warhead” over long distances. U.S. President Donald Trump has said military action is an option to prevent Kim’s regime from developing missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead to North America. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the ongoing testing “disappointing” and “disturbing.” But he said the U.S. is in the early stages of applying economic and diplomatic pressure, and that perhaps North Korea is “acting out now in response to some of this pressure that I believe they’re beginning to feel” as a result. “Hopefully they will get the message that the pathway of continuing their nuclear arms program is not a pathway to security or certainly prosperity,” Tillerson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu said the missile launched on Sunday “did not pose a threat to North America,” according to an emailed statement from David Benham, director of media operations. South Korea convened a meeting of its National Security Council, hours after the nation’s new President Moon Jae-in appointed diplomat Chung Eui-yong as its chief. Chung, a former ambassador to Geneva, will use his diplomatic skills to tackle issues including North Korea’s nuclear development, the presidential office said.