U.S. Indo-Pacific Command condemns N. Korean missile launch

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch Monday, calling on the regime to refrain from "unlawful" and "destabilizing" acts. The North fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea from a site in or around Pyongyang on Tuesday morning (Korea time), according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts," the command said in a statement. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It also highlighted America's security commitment to Seoul and Tokyo. "We continue to monitor the situation," it said. "The U.S. commitments to the defense of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad." Military officials in Seoul put weight to the possibility of the North having tested an intermediate-range missile equipped with a hypersonic warhead. Last month, the North claime d to have successfully conducted a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new intermediate hypersonic missile. Source: Yonhap News Agency