Nuclear-armed North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan on Tuesday — its third weapons test in just over two weeks — as its U.N. envoy delivered a scathing speech before the General Assembly lambasting the U.S. over "double standards."

The North launched one short-range missile at around 6:40 a.m. from an area near its border with China, the South Korean military said Tuesday, with the Japanese Defense Ministry calling the launch an apparent test of a ballistic weapon.

The missile was not believed to have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and may even have faltered midflight, a high-ranking Japanese government official said.