North Korea courts disaster with missile tests from international airport

There was no immediate confirmation of damage or casualties

North Korea's decision to use the international airport near its capital city as a site for test-firing large missiles is "absolutely bonkers" and may be a way for leader Kim Jong Un to keep a close eye on his most prized weapons, analysts said.

Debris fell in or near Pyongyang after a failed test-fire from the airport on Wednesday, Seoul-based NK News reported, citing unnamed witnesses and a photograph of the test showing a red-tinted ball of smoke at the end of a zig-zagging rocket launch trail in the sky above the city. 

There was no immediate confirmation of damage or casualties.

Qazet.az reports that the launch underscored the danger behind North Korea's decision to use the airport as a major site for test firing large missiles. The airport is in Sunan about 17 km (10 miles) northwest of the North Korean capital.

"The idea of placing a dedicated facility to support developmental missile testing at North Korea’s major international airport is absolutely bonkers," Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said in a report on Sunday.