After a faulty missile launch during a joint drill with the US caused panic among residents of Gangneung, a coastal city, the South Korea military has apologised.Overnight, they reported seeing a fire and heard an explosion.Although there were no reported casualties, the military didn’t acknowledge the occurrence until seven hours later.
North Korea had earlier on Tuesday morning launched a missile over Japan, prompting the launch.As a result of Pyongyang firing a missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, the US, Japan, and South Korea conducted military manoeuvres as a show of force.
Later, the South Korean military acknowledged that one of their missiles, not one fired with the US, had crashed after failing shortly after launch.The military also apologised for raising concern and added that the Hyunmoo-2 missile contained a warhead but that it did not detonate.
On Wednesday at around 1:00, residents of Gangneung claimed to have seen a brilliant flash and heard an explosion (16:00 GMT Tuesday).They were stuck in the dark for several hours, and many of them shared pictures and videos of the incident while asking what had occurred on social media. The video looked to show a fire that was brightly blazing, with smoke rising in the distance.
The fifth missile launch by North Korea in a week took place on Tuesday. Numerous of its missile tests are carried out over a route that soars to great heights, avoiding flights over its neighbours.
How do Kim Jong-missile un’s tests relate to his goals?
What types of missiles has North Korea tested?
However, launching missiles over or over Japan enables North Korean scientists to test missiles in conditions “more indicative of the conditions they’d sustain in real-world use,” according to analyst Ankit Panda.
