It came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills on the peninsula, to which North Korea strenuously objects. “North Korea’s reckless action is an unprecedented, serious and a grave threat to our nation,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. Earlier this month, the 15-member Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea in response to two long-range missile launches in July. The United States, Japan and South Korea considered it a ballistic missile test. “North Korea’s early space launches in 1998 and 2009 went over Japan, but that’s not the same thing as firing a missile.”

Source: Sunday Times August 29, 2017 03:56 UTC