North Korea fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, two months after they claimed to have tested engines for a new harder-to-detect missile capable of striking distant US targets in the region. The launch was North Korea’s first this year. Experts say they could ramp up its provocative missile tests as a way to influence the results of South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the US presidential election in November. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected the launch of a ballistic mi…