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NKorea test-fires short-range missile

By on Monday, May 25th, 2009

SEOUL: North Korea appears to have test-fired a short-range missile on Monday, the same day it conducted an underground nuclear test, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

"A single ground-to-air missile with a range of 130 km (81 miles) was fired from Musudan-ri, Hwadae County," it quoted a diplomatic source as saying.

Musudan-ri on the northeast coast is the North's major missile launch site. The North fired a long-range Taepodong-2 rocket from there on April 5.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman said authorities were checking the report.

Japan's Coast Guard said last week the communist state was warning ships not to pass through waters within a 130-kilometre (80-mile) radius of the town of Kimchaek on its northeast coast.

Seoul officials at the time said the warning suggested an impending missile test.

The North says its April 5 launch put a satellite into orbit but other nations said it staged a disguised missile test. The UN Security Council condemned the launch and tightened sanctions on three of Pyongyang's firms.

In response the North threatened more nuclear and missile tests. It announced Monday it had conducted a second nuclear test, more powerful than the first in October 2006.

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