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North Korea launches suspected ballistic missile, South Korea military reports
By Kate Aubusson and Adam Gartrell
Seoul: North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew 700 kilometres on Sunday, South Korea's military said.
Australia immediately condemned the launch as "reckless and provocative" and said it would fuel regional and global instability.
The unidentified ballistic missile was fired at 5.27am Seoul time (6.27am AEST) from the Kusong area located north-west of the capital Pyongyang, South Korea's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The North had previously test-launched an intermediate-range missile it is believed to be developing from the same location.
File footage of a North Korean missile launch at an undisclosed location in March.Credit: AP
South Korean and US militaries are analysing the details, the statement read.
The launch comes less than 24 hours after a senior North Korean diplomat said a dialogue with the US was possible (paywall) "if the conditions were right".
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said North Korea's behaviour was "not sustainable".
"Australia regards this as a reckless and provocative action that leads to instability both regionally and globally and has condemned, clearly in the past, North Korea for this sort of behaviour and we do so again," she told reporters in Victoria.
A submarine missile is paraded across the Kim Il-sung Square during a military parade, in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15.Credit: AP
"It is absolutely opposed by the broad international community."
Senator Payne called on all nations to impose UN-agreed sanctions on Pyongyang, singling out China as the country with the most influence over the regime.
Japan said the missile flew for 30 minutes and dropped in the sea between the North's east coast and Japan.
Japan swiftly issued a protest. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said North Korea's firing of a ballistic missile was a violation of UN resolutions and that Japan strongly protested the action. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe repeated the protest in comments to reporters.
"North Korea's repeated missile launches are a grave threat to our country and a clear violation of UN resolutions," Abe told reporters, adding that Japan would stay in close touch with the United States and South Korea.
The launch, if it is confirmed to be the test-firing of a ballistic missile, is the first in two weeks since the last attempt to fire a missile ended in a failure just minutes into flight, and the seventh this year.
The North attempted, but failed, to test-launch ballistic missiles four consecutive times in the past two months but has conducted a variety of missile testing since the beginning of last year at an unprecedented pace.
Weapons experts and government officials believe the North has accomplished some technical progress with those tests.
In April, US President Donald Trump said he would be "honoured to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. However, in an interview with Reuters, Trump warned that a "major, major conflict" with the North was possible, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute over its nuclear and missile programmes.
The launch is the first since a new liberal president took office in South Korea on Wednesday, saying dialogue as well as pressure must be used to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and stop the North's weapons pursuit.
Kim has launched dozens of projectiles and conducted three nuclear tests since he came to power after his father's death in 2011.
He claimed in January to be in the final stages of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, and has since launched several intermediate-range projectiles with varying degrees of success.
With Reuters, Bloomberg