North Korea launches ballistic missile into sea

Kim Jong Un.
(Image credit: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)

On Friday morning, North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew about 500 miles off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced.

U.S. officials confirmed the launch, and South Korea is monitoring the situation. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it's likely that North Korea launched a medium-range Rodong missile. Last week, North Korea fired two missiles south of Pyongyang toward the sea, and on Wednesday, in a move the U.S. says is politically motivated, it sentenced a visiting American student to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.