North Korea says ICBM launch was response to rivals' drills

North Korea on Friday said its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch was to send a “stronger warning” over the United States’ combined military exercises with South Korea that it blamed for creating “most unstable security environment” in the region. Thursday’s launch from North Korea’s capital area came hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol traveled to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida that underscored Seoul’s urgency to tighten security cooperation with its fellow U.S. ally in the face of North Korean threats. The launch was North Korea’s fourth missile event in a span of about a week as it stepped up its military activities in response to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.