The sound of the crash and subsequent fire led many in Gangneung to believe it could be a North Korean attack. It did not help the concern that it took several hours before the military and the authorities explained what had happened, AP writes. According to the South Korean defence, no one was injured when a short-range missile landed on a military base on the outskirts of the city. The military is investigating what it calls the “abnormal course” of the missile, which is one of South Korea’s most important weapons in defense against possible North Korean attacks. They apologized on Wednesday for causing concern among the population. Joint launch The United States and South Korea conducted a joint test launch of four surface-to-surface missiles of the type Atacms and two short-range missiles of the type Hyumoo-2. It was one of the latter two that crashed. The missiles were launched into the Sea of Japan, and come in response to North Korean provocation, writes Yonhap. The US and South Korea practiced precision bombing over the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, also in response to North Korea’s missile tests. Security Council meeting on Wednesday North Korea fired a missile over Japan on Tuesday, for the first time in five years. It was also North Korea’s fifth weapons test in ten days. The country has test-fired around 40 rockets on 20 different occasions so far this year, but the UN Secretary-General called Tuesday’s test an obvious escalation. Norway, the United States, Great Britain, France, Albania and Ireland have requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council about the North Korean launch on Wednesday. Diplomatic sources say it is unclear whether it will be too open or closed doors.
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