North Korea fires an intermediate-range missile into its eastern waters, South Korea says

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says North Korea test-fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile toward waters off its eastern coast, as it pushes to advance its weapons aimed at U.S. targets in the Pacific. South Korea said the missile launched Tuesday flew about 370 miles before landing between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It didn’t whether it had assessed if North Korea had tested the missile at less than its full capacity or used new technologies. Japan said the missile flew about 400 miles and reached an altitude of 62 miles. The North said last month it had tested a solid-fuel engine for a hypersonic missile, which, if perfected, could reach the U.S. Pacific military hub of Guam and beyond.