The latest launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to further boost the country’s military capability at a high-profile ruling party conference last week.
North Korea has fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea, in the first such launch by Pyongyang this year.
The South Korean military said on Wednesday the North fired what is “presumed to be a ballistic missile” towards the sea east of the peninsula at around 2310 GMT (8:10 am) on Tuesday.
After an emergency meeting, South Korea’s national security council “expressed concerns over the launch”, according to a statement by the president’s office.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described it as a “possible ballistic missile launch”.
“There have been no reports of damage to Japanese aircraft and vessels so far,” Japan’s top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
“We are continuing analysis, but if it took a normal orbit, it is expected to have travelled about 500 kilometres and fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.”
