SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested a short-range missile last week in an apparent effort to improve its missile capabilities, a South Korean official said Wednesday amid renewed tension on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea threatened last week to attack South Korea to protest soldiers’ use of photos of Pyongyang’s ruling family as targets during firing drills. The threat is part of steady animosity between the divided Koreas, which spiked last year after two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea.
The North conducted a routine test-launch of a KN-06 surface-to-air missile off its western coast sometime last week, the South Korean official said, requesting anonymity because the government isn’t officially confirming the launch.
The KN-06 is an upgraded version of KN-01 and KN-02 missiles, which have a range of about 75 miles (120 kilometers), and the launch appeared aimed at testing the new missile’s improved range and accuracy, the official said.
North Korea regularly conducts short-range missile tests, and South Korea’s military says the North test-fired such missiles last year.
South Korean media including Yonhap news agency also reported Wednesday about the North’s missile test.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it hasn’t detected any suspicious activities by North Korea’s military.
The two Koreas are still technically at war, but relations between the countries plunged to one of their lowest points in decades following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March last year and North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean border island in November.
A total of 50 South Koreans were killed. North Korea has denied involvement in the warship sinking. It says the artillery barrage was provoked by South Korean firing drills on the island.
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