North Korea fired a mid-range “Musudan” missile but it “seems to have failed,” a South Korean Defense Ministry official says.
The missile was fired around 6:10 a.m. local time on Thursday (5.40 p.m. Wednesday ET).
The military cannot confirm exactly when the missile exploded, but that it “crashed shortly after it was launched,” the official said.
The official, who was unnamed, added that further details were unavailable but that the military is in the process of investigating. It is the second ground-based Musudan launch that has failed in the last two weeks.
The previous attempt, which took place on the birthday of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, was tracked by the U.S. but there was “no evidence the missile reached flight,” a U.S. official told CNN’s Barbara Starr.
Latest in line of tests
It also comes as an increasingly belligerent North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program in open defiance of international condemnation, including that of its closest regional ally, China.
Along with a purportedly successful nuclear test in January and a launch of what the North insisted was a rocket designed to put satellites in orbit, the reclusive regime scored a “partial success” in recent days as it fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile over the weekend.
At the time, U.S. President Barack Obama said is was clear “that North Korea continues to engage in continuous provocative behavior. They have been actively pursuing an nuclear program, an ability to launch nuclear weapon.”
“Although more often than not they fail in these tests, they gain knowledge each time they engage in these tests,” he added. “And we take it very seriously.”
The failed launch comes only days after Pyongyang announced the opening date of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Seventh Congress, a rare and potentially significant gathering. The congress will open on May 6 and is the first such meeting since 1980.