South Korea says North Korea has fired intermediate range missile into its eastern waters

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has test-fired a suspected intermediate range missile toward waters off its eastern coast, adding to a series of weapons demonstrations that have raised tensions. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched Tuesday from an area near Pyongyang but it did not immediately confirm how far the weapon flew. The North said last month that it tested a solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile as it tries to expand its arsenal of weapons aimed at remote U.S. targets in the Pacific. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen since 2022 as Kim used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his testing of missiles and other weapons