N. Korea`s Sudden Missile Test

North Korea fired a land-to-ship missile on Sunday from some place in South Hamkyung Province to the high seas between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and plans to fire additional missiles today, confirmed a senior Japanese government official yesterday.

The Japanese government also said, "North Korea just launched a short-range land-to-ship missile. Under the North-Japan Declaration agreed upon last October, North is to freeze all types of ballistic missile tests. Thus, we don`t believe Pyongyang violated the agreement."

Some Japanese newspapers reported that the missile fired this time by North Korea is believed to a Chinese-made Silkworm missile, which has 100 km range. North Korea seems to have originally intended to fire two missiles, but failed to fire the other.

When the news hit the Tokyo stock market, the Nikkei Index plummeted by 204.46 yen, ending at 8,360.49.

In the meanwhile, the US State Department confirmed that North Korea sent a missile into the East Sea, and analyzed it as part of North Korea`s regular winter military exercise, reported Reuters.

South Korea`s Defense Ministry also confirmed yesterday the Feb. 24th missile test by North Korea.

The ministry spokesperson Hwang Young-soo said, "It has been verified that North Korea fired an unidentified land-to-ship missile at some place along its Northeast coast in Sunday afternoon. We are working on the information to figure out whether it was part of the ongoing military exercise, or a function test of its missiles."

The South Korean Defense Ministry seems to believe that the missile test was just conducted as part of North Korea`s military drill.

When a country fires missiles into the high seas, the country is required to report the firing to the International Maritime Organization to secure safe passage of navigating ships, which North Korea failed to do so, said the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries yesterday. On the other hand, Kyodo News reported that North Korea seems to have notified neighboring countries including Japan and South Korea of its missile test, which the South Korean Defense Ministry denied.

The ministry verifies that the missile, which was fired on the coast, landed some point in the sea 60-85km away from the launching point. But, the ministry believes that the missile is capable of flying 90-95km. Thus, it estimates that it would be a Silkworm or Samlet missile. Now, the ministry is trying to establish what type of missile it was and exactly where it was fired.

The missile believed to be launched this time is not one of the ballistic missiles that could threaten Japan and the United States. After experiencing harsh reactions from the international community by firing Taepodong-1 in August of 1998, it has frozen its tests of long-range ballistic missiles.