North Korea fires missile ahead of US-S Korea drills

Reuters and AFP, SEOUL and WASHINGTON Add TT as Preferred Source North Korea yesterday fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast, South Korean and Japanese authorities said, days ahead of major joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington long denounced by Pyongyang, and a day after the US and 40 other countries warned of the dangers of ballistic missile testing without advance notice, in a joint statement issued a month after China launched a nuclear-capable missile in the Pacific. The missile was launched from the North’s Wonsan area at about 6am, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, six days after North Korea fired another ballistic missile from the same area. The launch came ahead of South Korean and US military drills, dubbed Ulchi Free