Japan issues alert after North Korea fires ballistic missile towards East Sea

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Monday (April 22) towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said in an official statement. The Japanese coast guard issued an alert and said North Korea had fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile.

The NHK broadcaster said that the projectile appeared to have landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

The two countries' governments did not immediately provide any further details.

North Korea claimed last week that it test-launched a strategic cruise missile to test an unnamed large warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile. The development comes amid growing Chinese belligerence around Japanese waters as well as larger maritime tensions in East Asia, largely attributed to Beijing's spree of maritime expansionism.

Pyongyang's missile programmes are clandestinely supported by Beijing. The West claims that Moscow's support for North Korea's missile programme has been crucial to its defence posture in the region vis-a-vis American presence in the region.

Earlier this month, North Korea fired a new hypersonic missile as part of its development of solid-fuelled missiles for all ranges of its arsenal.

Pyongyang openly defies a ban imposed by the United Nations Security Council on developing ballistic missiles. North Korea considers international objections against its missile programmes as an infringement of its sovereign right to defend itself.

(With inputs from agencies)