North Korea fires unidentified missile into sea in latest weapons launch, Seoul says

North Korea has fired an unidentified ballistic missile into the sea off South Korea's east coast, Seoul's military said on Monday, the latest in an apparent volley of tests by Pyongyang this year.

"North Korea has fired an unidentified missile into the East Sea," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

Tokyo also confirmed the launch, with the Japanese defence ministry saying "a suspected ballistic missile was launched from North Korea" in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Japan's coast guard, citing the defence ministry, said shortly after the initial announcement that the missile appeared to have already fallen.

Japanese media including public broadcaster NHK reported that the suspected missile fell outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, citing unnamed government sources.

Seoul-based specialist site NK News said that the "brief flight time, likely under ten minutes, points to the launch involving a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) or 600mm multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)."

The latest launch comes after UN sanctions monitoring against the nuclear-armed nation was upended last month by Russia.

Seoul claims Pyongyang has sent around 7,000 containers of weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine.

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