SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea performed a suspected failed missile test on Wednesday night, South Korea’s military said, hours after Seoul said it would resume front-line aerial surveillance in response to the North’s recent spy satellite launch.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a brief statement it detected the missile launch from the North’s capital region. It said the missile was fired toward the North’s eastern waters but that the launch was believed to have ended in failure.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South Korean and U.S. authorities are analyzing the North Korean launch but gave no further details.
The North Korean launch — its first weapons firing in more than two months — came hours after South Korea announced it decided to partially suspend an inter-Korean agreement and restart front-line aerial surveillance of North Korea.
The North’s neighbors are trying to confirm whether the launch on Tuesday evening was successful and the satellite can perform reconnaissance functions.
South Korea’s military said it assessed that the North Korean spy satellite had entered orbit as the North claimed. But it said it needs more time to verify whether it works. Earlier, the Pentagon said it was assessing the success of the launch, while Japan stated there had been no confirmation of the North’s report on the satellite entering orbit.
North Korea’s state media claimed the spy satellite…
