North Korea fires ballistic missile into Japanese waters

Military officials in South Korea and the United States say that North Korea fired a ballistic missile which landed in Japanese waters in the rogue state's first launch since September.

"North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile eastward from the vicinity of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province, at dawn today," said the Yonhap news agency quoting the South Korean joint chiefs of staff.

The missile was in the air for 50 minutes and travelled about 1,000km (650 miles) on a "lofted trajectory" before coming down in the Sea of Japan, the Japanese government said. The country's prime minister Shinzo Abe convened an emergency cabinet meeting.

South Korea's military says the ICBM had an altitude of 4,500km. It conducted a missile-firing test in response shortly after.

The office of the Japanese prime minister said that the missile "landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone" and broke up before it landed in the sea.

When asked about the launch, the US President Donald Trump said "we will take care of it".

The UN Security Council will meet at 3pm (8pm GMT) on Wednesday (29 November) to discuss the missile firing. International condemnation was swift, with an EU spokesman saying the launch was a "further violation of its international obligations", while a NATO spokesman said it "undermines regional and international security".

Japan's UN ambassador said "we criticise their behaviour in the strongest terms possible".

Tuesday's launch was the first since 15 September when North Korea flew a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. That launch was significant as it proved the closed state had the ability to fire a missile that could target the US territory of Guam. North Korea had previously threatened to hit Guam with "enveloping fire".

Countries had been fearing a new missile test from Pyongyang was in the making after reports that South Korea and the US had intercepted North Korean radio transmissions suggesting a launch was soon to occur.

UN Ambassador Koro Bessho said that the Japanese government had condemned North Korea "in the strongest terms possible", saying that they are "very concerned".