A North Korean missile "blew up almost immediately" on its test launch on Sunday, the U.S. Pacific Command said, hours before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was due in South Korea for talks on the North's increasingly defiant arms programme.

The failed launch from North Korea's east coast, ignoring admonitions from major ally China, came a day after North Korea held a military parade in its capital, marking the birth anniversary of the state founder, in which what appeared to be new long-range ballistic missiles were on display.

Pence is due in Seoul at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia in what his aides said was a sign of the U.S. commitment to its ally in the face of rising tension over North Korea.

The U.S. nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group is also heading to the region.

China Says U.S.-North Korea Tension Has to Be Stopped Before It Becomes ‘Irreversible’

The North has warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. It has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology.

"The North attempted to launch an unidentified missile from near the Sinpo region this morning but it is suspected to have failed," South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The U.S. Pacific Command said the missile "blew up almost immediately", adding the type of missile was being analysed.

There was a high degree of confidence it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. A second U.S. official said the launch was land-based.

The timing of the test, coinciding with Pence's trip and a day after the military parade, would suggest deliberate defiance.

Pence had been briefed on the failed launch en route to Seoul and had been in touch with President Donald Trump, White House aides said.

South Korea said it would convene a national security council meeting on Sunday.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified South Korean intelligence source as saying the missile appeared to have not flown far from its land-based launch site.

The North launched a ballistic missile from the same region earlier this month ahead of a summit between the leaders of the United States and China to discuss the North's arms programme.

That missile flew about 60 km (40 miles) but what U.S. officials said appeared to be a liquid-fuelled, extended-range Scud missile only travelled a fraction of its range before spinning out of control.

China has spoken out against North Korea's missile and nuclear tests and has supported U.N. sanctions. China on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis.

A U.S. Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States.

Sinpo, where the Sunday launch took place, is the site of a North Korean submarine base and where the North has tested the submarine-launched ballistic missile it is developing.

“It appears today’s launch was already scheduled for re-launching after the earlier test-firing,” said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University's Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

South Korea’s Lotte Group Says it Will Keep Doing Business in China Despite Diplomatic Row

“This launch can possibly be a test for a new type of missile or an upgrade,” Kim said.

Tension had escalated sharply in the region amid concerns that the North may conduct a sixth nuclear test or a ballistic missile test launch around the April 15 anniversary it calls the "Day of the Sun".

The White House has said Trump has put the North "on notice".

Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and the South's main ally, the United States. </s> North Korea attempted to launch a missile that is believed to have failed, the U.S. Pacific Command confirmed on Saturday.

The official said the missile was not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which North Korea has claimed to possess but has never successfully tested.

The missile blew up almost immediately, the U.S. Pacific Command said. The type of missile is still being assessed.

It’s unclear why it failed. The missile was launched from Sinpo, on its east coast.

The Yonhap news agency in South Korea first reported the failed launch, citing the South Korean military.

“The North attempted to launch an unidentified missile from near the Sinpo region this morning but it is suspected to have failed,” the South’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement

The White House confirmed Saturday that President Trump has been briefed on the attempted missile launch. Vice President Mike Pence is en route to Seoul, the South Korean capital, as part of a 10-day swing through Asia.

North Korea spent the weekend celebrating the 105th anniversary of the country’s late founder, Kim Il Sung. At a massive military parade presided over by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday, the military displayed new ICBMs and other military hardware, CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reported from Pyongyang.

The display included submarine-launched ballistic missiles, believed to be the same type of missile North Korea fired from land in February. The missiles use solid fuel, making them easier to load and harder to detect than liquid fuel rockets.

The parade went on for more than two hours as thousands of North Korean soldiers marched in lockstep through the city’s main square. </s> American warships based in the Pacific were ordered to reroute toward the Korean Peninsula, days after North Korea tested another intermediate range missile. Last Wednesday, the North test-fired a missile from its eastern port of Sinpo that landed in the Sea of Japan. The head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. ordered… </s> SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea’s military said North Korea fired an unidentified missile Friday from its capital Pyongyang that flew over Japan before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean.

It was the second aggressive test-flight over the territory of the close U.S. ally in less than a month and it followed the sixth and most powerful nuclear test by North Korea to date on Sept. 3.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile travelled about 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) while reaching a maximum height of 770 kilometres (478 miles).

The missile was launched from Sunan, the site of Pyongyang’s international airport.

North Korea last month used the airport to fire a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that flew over northern Japan.

The North then declared it a “meaningful prelude” to containing the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and the start of more ballistic missile launches toward the Pacific Ocean.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga denounced North Korea’s latest launch, saying he was conveying “strong anger” on behalf of the Japanese people.

Suga said Japan “will not tolerate the repeated and excessive provocations.”

The North American Aerospace Defence Command determined the intermediate range missile did not pose a threat to North America. In addition, U.S. Pacific Command said it did not pose a threat to Guam.

South Korean experts said the August launch was Pyongyang’s attempt to make missiles flying over Japan an accepted norm as it seeks to test new missiles and win more military space in the region dominated by its enemies.

The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defence said the latest launch posed no immediate threat to Guam or the Marianas.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the country’s military conducted a live-fire drill of a Hyunmoo-2 ballistic missile in response to the North’s launch on Friday.

Seoul’s presidential office said President Moon Jae-in has scheduled a National Security Council meeting to discuss the latest launch.

North Korea claimed its latest nuclear test was a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The North flight-tested its Hwasong-14 ICBMs twice in July and analysts say the missiles potentially could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

North Korea initially flight-tested the Hwasong-12 and Hwasong-14 missiles at highly lofted angles to reduce range and avoid neighbouring countries.

The two launches over Japan indicate North Korea is moving toward conducting launches at angles close to operational as it seeks to test whether the warheads survive the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry and detonate properly.

North Korea has been accelerating its nuclear weapons development under leader Kim Jong Un, a third-generation dictator in his 30s, who has conducted four of North Korea’s six nuclear tests since taking power in 2011.

His military has maintained a torrid pace in testing weapons, which also include solid-fuel missiles designed to be launched from road mobile launchers or submarines.

In his aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons, Kim is seen as seeking a real nuclear deterrent to help ensure the survival of his government and also the stronger bargaining power that would come from it.

North Korea’s latest missile launch came days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions over the nuclear test. The latest sanctions are not as tough as what the U.S. had sought, they are expected to have a significant impact.

AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo. </s> SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea fired several short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast early on Saturday, South Korea and the U.S. military said, as the two allies conducted annual joint military drills that the North denounces as preparation for war.

The U.S. military’s Pacific Command said it had detected three short-range ballistic missiles, fired over a 20 minute period.

One appeared to have blown up almost immediately while two flew about 250 km (155 miles) in a northeasterly direction, Pacific Command said, revising an earlier assessment that two of the missiles had failed in flight.

The test came just days after senior U.S. officials praised North Korea and leader Kim Jong Un for showing restraint in not firing any missiles since late July.

The South Korean Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were launched from the North’s eastern Kangwon province into the sea.

Later on Saturday, the South Korean Presidential Blue House said the North may have fired an upgraded 300-mm caliber multiple rocket launcher but the military was still analyzing the precise details of the projectiles.

Pacific Command said the missiles did not pose a threat to the U.S. mainland or to the Pacific territory of Guam, which North Korea had threatened earlier this month to surround in a “sea of fire”.

Tensions had eased somewhat since a harsh exchange of words between Pyongyang and Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump had warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he would face “fire and fury” if he threatened the United States.

North Korea’s last missile test on July 28 was for an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to fly 10,000 km (6,200 miles). That would put parts of the U.S. mainland within reach and prompted heated exchanges that raised fears of a new conflict on the peninsula.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missiles did not reach its territory or exclusive economic zone and did not pose a threat to Japan’s safety.

MILITARY DRILLS

The South Korean and U.S. militaries are in the midst of the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills involving computer simulations of a war to test readiness and run until Aug. 31.

The region where the missiles were launched, Kittaeryong, is a known military test site frequently used by the North for short-range missile drills, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

“So rather than a newly developed missile, it looks to be short range missiles they fired as part of their summer exercise and also in response to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill,” he said.

The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with the North because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North routinely says it will never give up its weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter perceived U.S. hostility.

Washington has repeatedly urged China, North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, to do more to rein in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides a target-striking contest of the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) to occupy islands in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on August 25, 2017. KCNA via Reuters

China’s commerce ministry late on Friday banned North Korean individuals and enterprises from doing new business in China, in line with United Nations Security Council sanctions passed earlier this month.

TRUMP BRIEFED

The White House said Trump had been briefed about the latest missiles but did not immediately have further comment.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately comment about the Saturday launches. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this week credited the North with showing restraint by not launching a missile since the July ICBM test.

Tillerson had said he hoped that the lack of missile launches or other “provocative acts” by Pyongyang could mean a path could be opening for dialogue “sometime in the near future.”

Trump also expressed optimism earlier this week about a possible improvement in relations. “I respect the fact that he is starting to respect us,” Trump said of Kim.

North Korea’s state media reported on Saturday that Kim had guided a contest of amphibious landing and aerial strike by its army against targets modeled after South Korean islands near the sea border on the west coast.

The official KCNA news agency quoted Kim as telling its Army that it “should think of mercilessly wiping out the enemy with arms only and occupying Seoul at one go and the southern half of Korea.”

A new poster on a North Korean propaganda website on Saturday showed a missile dealing “a retaliatory strike of justice” against the U.S. mainland, threatening to “wipe out the United States, the source of evil, without a trace.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides a target-striking contest of the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) to occupy islands in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on August 25, 2017. KCNA via Reuters

On Wednesday, Kim ordered the production of more rocket engines and missile warheads during a visit to a facility associated with North Korea’s ballistic missile program.

Diagrams and what appeared to be missile parts shown in photographs published in the North’s state media suggested Pyongyang was pressing ahead with building a longer-range ballistic missile that could potentially reach any part of the U.S. mainland including Washington.

(For an interactive package on North Korea's missile capabilities click here)

(For a graphic on North Korea missile trajectories, ranges click tmsnrt.rs/2vLMdVm) </s> North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday morning from Kangwon province, the US Pacific Command said.

Though North Korea says it now has the ability to send missiles to the US mainland, US defense officials said they determined these missiles did not pose a threat to North America or Guam.

Cmdr. David Benham, spokesman for US Pacific Command, said the first and third missiles “failed in flight” and the second missile launch “appears to have blown up almost immediately.”

“We are working with our Interagency partners on a more detailed assessment and we will provide a public update if warranted,” he said.

The missile tests occurred as the United States and South Korea conducted the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises.

South Korea and the United States call the exercises defensive in nature, but North Korea sees them as provocative and hostile, perhaps even preparation for an invasion.

“The Korean People’s Army is keeping a high alert, fully ready to contain the enemies. It will take resolute steps the moment even a slight sign of the preventive war is spotted,” North Korean state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said.

A statement issued by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said “the projectiles” were launched around 6:49 a.m. Saturday and flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles) into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea.

South Korea planned to convene its national security council several hours after the missile launches, the presidential office said in a statement.

“Our military is closely monitoring for North Korean additional provocation and strengthened surveillance and security postures and maintaining readiness postures,” the South Korean release said.

North Korea has conducted a series of ballistic missile tests this year, increasing tensions with the United States, South Korea and Japan.

The country has fired more than 20 missiles since February, further perfecting its technology with each launch. In July, it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, which North Korea claims could reach “anywhere in the world.” </s> SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s military said North Korea fired an unidentified missile Friday from its capital Pyongyang that flew over Japan before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean.

It was the second aggressive test-flight over the territory of the close U.S. ally in less than a month and it followed the sixth and most powerful nuclear test by North Korea to date on Sept. 3.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled about 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) while reaching a maximum height of 770 kilometers (478 miles).

The missile was launched from Sunan, the site of Pyongyang’s international airport.

North Korea last month used the airport to fire a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that flew over northern Japan.

The North declared it a “meaningful prelude” to containing the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and the start of more ballistic missile launches toward the Pacific Ocean.

South Korean experts said the August launch was Pyongyang’s attempt to make missiles flying over Japan an accepted norm as it seeks to test new projectiles and win more military space in the region dominated by its enemies.

The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense said the latest launch posed no immediate threat to Guam or the Marinas.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the country’s military conducted a live-fire drill of a Hyunmoo-2 ballistic missile in response to the North’s launch on Friday.

Seoul’s presidential office said President Moon Jae-in has scheduled a National Security Council meeting to discuss the latest launch.

North Korea claimed its latest nuclear test was a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The North flight-tested its Hwasong-14 ICBMs twice in July and analysts say the missiles potentially reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

North Korea’s latest missile launch came days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions over the nuclear test. The latest sanctions are not as tough as what the U.S. had sought, they are expected to have a significant impact. </s> A file picture of the second test-fire of ICBM Hwasong-14 at an undisclosed location in North Korea, on July 28, 2017.

[SEOUL] North Korea early on Friday fired an unidentified missile eastward from the Sunan district in its capital, Pyongyang, South Korea's military said.

The South Korean and US militaries were analysing details of the launch, the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The missile has flown over Japan, Japan's NHK television said.

The North's launch comes a day after the North threatened to sink Japan and reduce the United States to "ashes and darkness"for supporting a UN Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions against it for its Sept 3 nuclear test.

The North previously launched a ballistic missile from Sunan on Aug 29 which flew over Japan's Hokkaido island and landed in the Pacific waters. </s> North Korea on Saturday morning fired what are believed to be three short-range ballistic missiles which failed either right after launch or during flight, U.S. Pacific Command said.

The missiles were launched near Kittaeryong between 6:49 a.m. Seoul time (5:49 pm. Friday ET) and 12:19 p.m. The second missile "appears to have blown up almost immediately" and two others failed in flight, Pacific Command said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined that none of the missiles posed a threat to North America or Guam, Pacific Command said. A South Korean military official said the projectiles traveled around 155 miles, but more analysis was being conducted.

North Korea has conducted several ballistic missile tests this year, which are prohibited by United Nations sanctions, including two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that have heightened tensions in the region.

North Korea has also conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month warned that North Korea would be met with "fire and fury" if it threatens the United States. The comments came after reports that North Korea had developed a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on a missile.

"We continue to monitor North Korea's actions closely," Pacific Command said. "U.S. Pacific Command stands behind our ironclad commitment to the security of our allies in the Republic of Korea and Japan."

The latest launch comes during an annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that the North condemns as an invasion rehearsal, and weeks after Pyongyang threatened to lob missiles toward the Pacific U.S. territory of Guam.
The U.S. Pacific Command and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff report that a North Korean missile, tested near the city of Sinpo on the country's east coast, blew up almost immediately after the launch, just hours before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was due in South Korea for talks about the North's arms program.