South Korea says that North Korea has fired a ballistic missile toward the sea but that the launch likely failed.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North Korean launch was made from the North’s capital region on Wednesday night.
It says the North Korean missile was believed to have failed but did not elaborate.
The North Korean missile launch came a day after it launched a spy satellite.
North Korea has claimed to have put the satellite into orbit.
Previously, outh Korea decided to partially suspend an inter-Korean agreement and restart front-line aerial surveillance of North Korea, hours after the North claimed to have put its first military spy satellite into orbit in violation of UN resolutions, officials in Seoul said.
The South Korean announcement, which will likely infuriate North Korea, came as the North’s neighbours are trying to confirm whether the launch on Tuesday evening was successful and the satellite can perform reconnaissance functions.
South Korea’s military said it assessed that the North Korean spy satellite had entered orbit as the North claimed.
But it said it needs more time to verify whether it works.
Earlier, the Pentagon said it was assessing the success of the launch, while Japan stated there had been no confirmation of the North’s report on the satellite entering orbit.
North Korea’s state media claimed the spy satellite transmitted imagery showing space views of key military sites in the US Pacific territory of Guam.
