by Our Foreign Desk

SOUTH Korea successfully test-fired a ballistic missile yesterday that could reach any part of North Korea.

The domestically built missile, which has a reported range of more than 300 miles, was fired from a southern launch pad, said an anonymous Defence Ministry official.

Seoul also tested an anti-ballistic missile at the same launch pad, the official said.

There was no immediate response from North Korea, which is under sanctions for its own ballistic missile, satellite and nuclear weapons programme and considers US and South Korean military drills to be preparation for war.

Seoul struck a deal with the United States in 2012 allowing it to have longer-range missiles to counter the North’s arsenal, which include claimed submarine-launched weapons.

South Korea hosted US nuclear weapons until the end of the cold war and conducted secret nuclear arms research of its own until 2004.

A North Korean academic said extra labour was being called in to finish two hydroelectric power stations before October 10, the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s foundation.

Pyongyang Academy of Social Sciences senior researcher Kim Kyong Il said the goal was a 20 to 50 per cent increase in existing capacity.

He said North Korea was exploring wind and tidal power and that solar energy already provided as much as half of electricity in some rural areas.

“Our country regards electricity as the engine of the national economy,” said Mr Kim.