North Korea fires ballistic missile, say South Korea, Japan

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff has claimed that North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the ocean off its east coast late on Monday.

Japan’s defence ministry also reported that North Korea may have launched a ballistic missile. The reports come amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula as South Korea and the United States move to increase military readiness against North Korea’s weapons programme through the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets.

North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests last week, hours after a U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine arrived at a South Korean port for the first time since the 1980s.

On Monday, another nuclear-powered U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea.

Over the weekend, North Korea fired a barrage of cruise missiles into the sea off its west coast.

(With agency inputs)