Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, on Wednesday for its first test launch of the year, Japan and South Korea said.
The South Korean military said the test appeared to be of a single ballistic missile, the first since the North fired off a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in October.
Seoul said the missile had been fired from a site in North Korea's northern province of Jagang, which borders China. Jagang is believed to be home to a number of nuclear weapons sites, and is the area from which the North fired what it said was a hypersonic missile last September.