North Korea's Musudan missile launch fails

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday fired what was believed to be a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile but appeared to have failed, Yonhap news agency reported on early Tuesday.

"The DPRK launched a projectile, estimated to have been a Musudan missile, at about 5:20 a.m. local time from the Wonsan area in northeastern DPRK. But the launch appeared to have failed. "South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

South Korea's military confirmed Monday that it was tracking signs of possible ballistic missile launch by the DPRK and has made complete preparations for possible launches.

If confirmed, it would mark the DPRK's 4th test-firing of a Musudan missile after the first launch on April 15 and two launches on April 28. However, all of the four test-firings ended as failure.

The Musudan missile, known to be capable of hitting part of the U.S. territory such as Guam and the outer reaches of Alaska, has been deployed by the DPRK since 2007.

The missile is considered especially threatening as it is fired from a mobile launcher, making it hard to detect and track in times of military conflicts. It can also carry a nuclear warhead.
 [Xinhua-china.org.cn-globaltimes.cn]
31/5/16
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