North Korea fires ballistic missile towards the sea, South Korea says

South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday morning that its northern neighbour fired a ballistic missile from the port city of Wonsan on the eastern shore of the Korean Peninsula and that it flew more than 700 kilometres (435 miles).

Seoul’s presidential national security office convened an emergency meeting to assess the situation after the launch, the president’s office said in a statement.

The South Korean military raised an alert for further launches and said it would share intelligence with the US and Japan.

Japan issued an emergency alert on Saturday, saying: “North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile.”

The US Pacific Command said it was aware of the launch, adding that it was consulting closely with US allies and partners.

“Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies,” it said in a social media post.

The launch came a day after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, ridiculed South Korean demands for the North to apologise over landmine blasts that South Korea and the US-led United Nations Command said were caused by North Korean mines planted south of the Military Demarcation Line.