N Korea Fires Ballistic Missile

South Korean foreign ministry strongly condemned the launch.

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, ahead of a summit between Uthe US and Chinese leaders who are set to discuss Pyongyang's increasingly defiant arms programme. He also said the missile launch was hard to understand because North Korea benefits from the USA and China being at odds with one another.

"It seems Tillerson purposefully issued a short statement to send a tough signal", said Kim Sung-han, a professor at Seoul's Korea University and a former South Korean deputy foreign minister.

Two weeks ago, the South Korean and US militaries said they had detected a failed North Korean ballistic missile launch.

"US Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security", the military command in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region said.

It has used the anniversary in previous years to test-fire the intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile and to launch long-range rockets to try to put satellites into orbit. "We have no further comment", he said in a statement.

Any launch of objects using ballistic missile technology is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"The launch took place possibly in consideration of the U.S".

The launch will fuel worldwide concerns about the hermit state's weapons programme. Many weapons experts say the North could have a functioning nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the continental USA within a few years.

The test comes the day before China's president, Xi Jinping, begins his visit with President Donald Trump at Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that Beijing holds the key to stopping its errant neighbour and is not doing enough to control it.

Did North Korea really want to steal the show ahead of the Trump-Xi summit? North Korea sees the drills as an invasion rehearsal.

The North's latest missile launch also came as it is responding annual military drills between the United States and South Korea with weapons tests and harsh rhetoric.

The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

It has also conducted two nuclear weapons tests since January 2016, all in defiance of United Nations sanctions. Most North Korean missiles use liquid propellant, which generally must be added to the missile on the launch pad before firing.

"The nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan strongly condemned the North's latest ballistic missile provocation", the ministry said in a text message sent to reporters.

A missile fired by North Korea into the Sea of Japan span out of control and the test ended in a "fiery crash", a senior U.S. defence official has said.