‘A GRAVE PROVOCATION’

North Korea Launches Second Ballistic Missile in Less Than 24 Hours

The weapon is believed to have flown about 1,000 kilometers over 75 minutes before landing in the waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile into the sea on Monday morning, the second such launch by the isolated regime in less than 24 hours. The missile traveled about 1,000 kilometers over 73 minutes before landing in the waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to South Korea’s military. The military’s statement called the launch, which followed a short-range missile firing by Pyongyang on Sunday night, “a grave provocation” in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Japanese authorities said they planned to hold a National Security Council meeting to discuss the matter, according to the Associated Press. The launches come on the heels of a U.S. warning to North Korea on Saturday that any nuclear attack on the nation or its allies, including South Korea, would result in a “swift, overwhelming, and decisive response” that would spell the end of Kim Jong Un’s rule.