N.Korea fires unidentified projectile, S.Korea military said – UPDATE

North Korea fired an unidentified projectile on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, a week after it test-fired a mid-long range missile which experts said marked an advancement in the reclusive state’s missile programme.

South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the projectile took off Sunday afternoon from a location near Pukchang, an area where Pyongyang attempted to test-launch another missile last month but failed.

UPDATE: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said both economic and diplomatic pressure will continue to be applied to North Korea in the wake of a ballistic missile launch.

“The ongoing testing is disappointing, disturbing and we ask that they cease that,” Tillerson said on Sunday in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”

North Korea fired a ballistic missile into waters off its east coast on Sunday, its second missile test in a week

UPDATE: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday that he wants to raise the issue of North Korean missile launches at the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Italy this month.

“I would like to have a thorough discussion about this at the G7 summit,” Abe told reporters after a meeting of the National Security Council.

UPDATE: Japan has strongly protested to North Korea about the ballistic missile launch it conducted on Sunday as Tokyo cannot tolerate its repeated acts of provocation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

Suga said the missile was launched around 1659 JST (0759 GMT) from North Korea’s west coast towards the Sea of Japan and it likely landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, without causing damages to ships and airplanes.

UPDATE: The White House said on Sunday it was aware North Korea had launched a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and noted its range was shorter than recent tests.

“We are aware that North Korea launched an MRBM. This system, last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea’s three most recent tests,” a White House official said.

UPDATE: A missile launched by North Korea on Sunday flew about 500 kilometres (310 miles) and was believed to have landed in waters off its east coast, South Korea’s military said.

The office did not give further details, but Yonhap News Agency said it was not believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), citing an anonymous source.

A South Korean military official declined to confirm the report but said the military was analysing the launch.

North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programmes, even from China, its lone major ally, calling them legitimate self-defence.

It has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

“Today the U.S. mainland and the Pacific operational theatre are within the strike range of the DPRK and the DPRK has all kinds of powerful means for annihilating retaliatory strike,” North Korea’s state KCNA news agency said in a commentary on Saturday