UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan, denouncing what he called an “escalation” according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

“This is clearly an escalation,” Dujarric explained. The Secretary General urged “the government of North Korea to resume dialogue with stakeholders in order to achieve what we have long demanded, namely the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Earlier in the day, South Korean media reported that “North Korea launched a ballistic missile towards the Sea of ​​Japan,” and the South Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military was analyzing characteristics such as range, altitude, and speed.

In this context, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation indicated that a North Korean ballistic missile had flown over Japanese territory.

According to the Yonhap news agency, this is the fifth launch of a ballistic missile in the last ten days, which means that it fires a missile once every two days. On October 1, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces reported that Pyongyang had fired a ballistic missile towards the east coast.