N. KOREA FIRES ANOTHER MISSILE

[Anchor Lead]

North Korea has again fired what is believed to be a ballistic missile off its east coast, the second apparent missile launch in less than a week. While enhancing vigilance and monitoring against the North, the South Korean military is working to analyze information about the projectile.

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired what appears to be a ballistic missile into the East Sea Tuesday morning. The JCS said it detected a projectile the North launched from its inland region at 7:27 a.m on January 11th. South Korean and the U.S. intelligence officials are working to obtain precise information about the launch site, the type of the apparent ballistic missile and its flight distance as well as other details. The military said that in close cooperation with the U.S., it is closely monitoring North Korea’s moves in preparation against another possible missile launch and maintaining its full readiness posture. Tuesday’s launch is the second one the North carried out this year, which came in just six days after the regime fired a missile from Chagang Province into the East Sea on January 5. It's important to note the timing as the second launch took place on the day the UN Security Council convened a closed-door meeting to discuss last week’s launch. U.S., Japanese and European ambassadors at the UN issued a joint statement to condemn North Korea’s latest missile launch and called on it to return to denuclearization dialogue. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry also expressed concerns about the North’s move. On January 5, Pyongyang claimed that it had fired a hypersonic missile. But the South Korean military concluded it was a ballistic missile. Previously, North Korea pledged to focus on achieving military advances in the new year at the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party, which was held in late December.