Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Tuesday that North Korea's latest missile launch is "a whole new level of grave provocation" because the missile flew over Japan for the first time.
"The situation is very grave. North Korea fired a missile again in just two days. This missile lauch is a whole new level of grave provocation as it passed Japanese skies for the first time," Lee said at the start of a Cabinet meeting, according to his office.
"We should carry out our duties in a more serious manner," he said.
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Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon presides over a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 29. (Yonhap) |
Hours earlier, the North fired a missile from an area near Pyongyang that flew over Japan before crashing into the Pacific Ocean. South Korea's military said the missile flew about 2,700 kilometers with the maximum height of about 550 km.
It was the first time that the North flew a missile over Japan, though the communist nation fire a long-range rocket over the neighboring nation in what Pyongyang claimed to be an attempt to put a satellite into orbit.
Tuesday's missile launch came just days after the North fired a barrage of short-range missiles into the East Sea on Saturday in a provocation seen as aimed at protesting against the annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the US. (Yonhap)
