North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast towards Japan early on Wednesday, Seoul’s military said, days before the planned start of massive US-South Korea joint drills.
The 11-day exercises due to begin on Monday are a regular fixture of the summer calendar, designed to steel the United States and South Korea for defence against the nuclear-armed North.
Pyongyang calls them rehearsals for an invasion and has staged missile launches before and after them in the past.
“Our military detected at around 6am (local time) a ballistic missile launched by North Korea from the Wonsan area towards the East Sea,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters.
The missile flew more than 700km (435 miles) over the body of water – also known as the Sea of Japan – it said, adding that Seoul and Washington were analysing its specifications.
Japan’s defence ministry also described the object as a suspected ballistic missile, adding that it was thought to have “already fallen”, without providing further details.