North Korea ICBM launch appears to have failed: Seoul

North Korea unsuccessfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during a new salvo of launches Thursday, the South Korean military said, with Washington urging all nations to enforce sanctions on Pyongyang.

In response to the launches, South Korea and the United States said they would extend their ongoing joint air drills, the largest-ever such exercises - a move Pyongyang immediately branded "an irrevocable and awful mistake".

People in parts of northern Japan were ordered to seek shelter during the North's latest launches, which included five short-range missiles and followed a blitz of projectiles fired Wednesday.


The largest of Thursday's launches, however, "is presumed to have ended in failure", the South Korean military said. The United States condemned the ICBM launch.

"This action underscores the need for all countries to fully implement DPRK-related UN Security Council resolutions," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said, using the North's official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Washington also confirmed information provided by the South Korean military, which said earlier it had detected the launch of the long-range ballistic missile at around 7:40 am (local time) in the Sunan area of Pyongyang.