N. Korea fires midrange missile today

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea has fired a medium-range missile, the latest ballistics test by a country speeding up its development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says the rocket was fired Sunday from an area near the North Korean county of Pukchang and flew eastward about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles. The U.S. Pacific Command says it tracked the missile before it landed in the sea.

White House officials traveling in Saudi Arabia with President Donald Trump said the system that was tested, which was last launched in February, had a shorter range than the missiles fired in North Korea's most recent tests.

The latest launch comes a week after North Korea successfully tested a new midrange missile that it said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead.