North Korea fired what appeared to be its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) early Thursday, but the launch ended in failure.
The Yonhap news agency quoted a military official, as saying, "The missile, presumed to be a Musudan, was fired around 6.40 a.m. (local time) from the vicinity of Wonsan, but it appears to have crashed a few seconds later."
"It is highly likely that the launch failed. With that in mind, South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed assessment," he was further quoted, as saying by the agency.
Others said the missile seems to have plunged into the coastal area, and the failed launch was caught by a U.S. surveillance satellite.
This was the second missile launched by North Korea in the month of April, which failed. The first missile fired earlier in the month exploded a few seconds after liftoff, even before entering its flight phase, reportedly due to engine problems.
The two failed launches represent the country's first-ever test-firing of these longer range missiles. The back-to-back failures also indicate the unreliability of the communist country's untested IRBM capability.
With a targeted range of 3,000-4,000 kilometers, the missiles are designed to reach as far as Guam, where a large number of United States military forces are stationed.
North Korea is believed to have deployed some 50 Musudan missiles since 2007.
