North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile Into the Sea of Japan

"North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan," the media outlet reported.

The agency added that the actual North Korean missile launch came shortly after 10 aircraft flew overnight near the South Korean borders.

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Later, the JCS revealed to Yonhap that it was a short-range missile launched from the Sunan district near Pyongyang.

"Strengthening monitoring and surveillance activities, our Armed Forces maintain a posture of full readiness to cooperate closely with the U.S.," the South Korean military agency said.

In turn, Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, quoted by Kyodo news agency, reported that the short-range missile launched by Pyongyang flew a distance of 650 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers.

He added that the missile landed about 370 kilometers off the coast of Japan, outside its exclusive economic zone.

This Thursday Pyongyang already launched two long-range strategic cruise missiles that flew over the Yellow Sea and hit a target at a distance of 2,000 kilometers.

On October 4, North Korea fired a ballistic missile, which flew over Aomori prefecture in the Tohoku region of northern Japan and landed outside Japan's territorial waters.

The missile flew a record distance of 4,600 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of 1,000 kilometers.

The last time a North Korean missile flew over Japanese territory was five years ago.

Two days later, Pyongyang was reported to have launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea.

The Japanese Defense Ministry confirmed the information, specifying that the missiles flew 350 and 800 kilometers at the altitude of 100 and 50 kilometers, respectively.

On October 9, North Korea launched two short-range missiles in the same direction, its seventh test in barely two weeks.