North Korea test fired yet another ballistic missile on Sunday, only a week after the country’s last test launch.
This missile, launched from about 50 miles north of Pyonyang, flew out about 300 miles said the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to CNN.
A senior Trump administration official identified the projectile as a medium-range ballistic missile, according to a report from ABC News.
“U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 09:59 p.m. Hawaii time May 20. The launch of a medium range ballistic missile occurred near Pukchang. The missile was tracked until it landed in the Sea of Japan,” said Cmdr. David Benham, a U.S. Pacific Command spokesman, in a statement.
“We are working with our Interagency partners on a more detailed assessment. We continue to monitor North Korea’s actions closely,” the statement continued. “U.S. Pacific Command stands behind our ironclad commitment to the security of our allies in the Republic of Korea and Japan. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) assessed that the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.”
The launch comes as President Trump is on his first overseas trip as commander in chief. He is expected to deliver a major speech on the fight against extremism to Middle Eastern leaders in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier in the week the U.S. Navy moved a second aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula to take part in training exercises amid a time of rising tensions over North Korea’s missile tests.
North Korea launched a longer-range missile last Sunday, identified as a Hwasong-12, which flew for about 30 minutes and landed in the water 60 miles south of Russia’s Vladivostok region.
The country has attempted nearly a dozen missile launches since Trump became president in January, the CNN report said.
