N Korea fires 2nd missile in a week

North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea yesterday, with South Korea's military warning the second such weapons test in less than a week showed clear signs of progress. The early-morning launch came as the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss last week's test of what Pyongyang called a hypersonic missile, although Seoul has cast doubt on that claim. But the South Korean military said the "suspected ballistic missile" launched yesterday had reached hypersonic speeds -- a sign of "progress" from last week's test. The missile, fired towards the sea east of the peninsula yesterday at around 7:27am (2227 GMT Monday), flew 700 kilometres at an altitude of around 60 kilometres at Mach 10 speed, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Yesterday's missile landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. While there were no immediate reports of damage, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the launch "extremely regrettable".