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 is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.