N. Korea says latest SRBM launch was 'countermeasure' to S. Korea's provocation

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday claimed its latest ballistic missile launch was a countermeasure to the South Korean military's "provocative action" in the frontline area, issuing a warning against what it calls a "reckless" move.

Earlier in the day, South Korea's military said the North fired one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) toward the East Sea from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 1:49 a.m.

"Taking a serious note of this provocative action by the South Korean military in the frontline area, we took strong military countermeasures," a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North said its latest SRBM launch came after it detected the South Korean army conducting an "artillery fire for about 10 hours near the forward defence area of the KPA Fifth Corps on Oct. 13."

"The KPA sends a stern warning to the South Korean military inciting military tension in the frontline area with reckless action," the spokesman added.

The launch came after the North flew around 10 military aircraft close to the inter-Korean border at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday through 12:20 a.m., prompting the South to scramble its F-35A fighters and other assets in response.