North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile to the East, South Korea Says

South Korean officials said North Korea launched a missile on Tuesday afternoon, according to local media reports.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Pyongyang “fired an unidentified ballistic missile from South Pyongan Province early Wednesday,” local time. It quoted South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff for the information.

According to NBC, quoting officials, the missile landed in the waters off Japan’s coast.

“North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile eastward from the vicinity of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province, at dawn today,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed.

It’s unclear where the missile went. The report stated that it went eastward.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries are analyzing details, Yonhap reported.

It’s the first time North Korea has launched a missile since mid-September.

On Tuesday, a Japanese government source told Reuters that it had detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing another ballistic missile launch.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported late on Monday, Nov. 27, that the Japanese government was on alert after catching such radio signals, suggesting a launch could come in a few days. The report also said the signals might be related to winter military training by the North Korean military.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan.