North Korea launched an "unidentified bullet".
The Bloomberg agency reports, citing Yonhap.
North Korea launched a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan, just four days before the South Korean presidential election on 9 March.
This was reported by the Joint General Staff Command of Seoul, according to which the test took place from the Sunan area, in Pyongyang, at 8:48 local time (00:48 in Italy), while the carrier covered a range of about 270 km touching a maximum altitude of 560 km.
The Seoul National Security Council expressed its opposition to Pyongyang's "unprecedented repeated launch of ballistic missiles", which goes against peace on the Korean peninsula and in the international community, the Presidential Office clarified in a statement, according to which the military will continue to "monitor North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities, such as Yongbyon and Punggye-ri even more closely."
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi also condemned the move by the hermit state, reiterating that the launch violated UN Security Council resolutions decided against Pyongyang over the years.
The test signaled that, regardless of the South Korean elections set for Wednesday, Pyongyang is moving forward with its defense plans unveiled at the 8th Workers' Party Congress in January 2021, including one hypersonic, another nuclear warhead. "high-level" is an ICBM that uses a "solid fuel engine".
Some observers said the North could strengthen its military posture, while US attention is focused on the armed conflict in Russia, invaded by Russia.
Concerns also remain that Pyongyang may continue to engage in more provocative acts as it threatened to lift its year-long self-imposed moratorium on nuclear tests and ICBMs in January.
Since early 2022, Pyongynang has launched several missiles, including an intermediate-range ballistic one, using various platforms, such as a road and rail mobile launcher.
Today's test of strength is also part of Pyongyang's strategies to strengthen internal solidarity when nuclear negotiations with Washington are stalled and economic problems continue to worsen also due to the Covid-19 pandemic.