North Korea’s latest missile test likely ended in failure, South Korea’s military says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean ballistic missile test on Wednesday likely ended in failure, South Korea’s military said, days after the North protested the recent regional deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier for a new trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was launched toward the North’s eastern waters, but the launch was suspected to have ended in failure.

It didn’t immediately explain why South Korea believes the North Korean missile launch failed. Japan’s Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile by North Korea.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported the North Korean missile flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles). Yonhap cited an unidentified South Korean military source as saying North Korea was believed to have tested a developmental hypersonic missile but it didn’t say why the launch was assessed as an failure.

Japanese media reported the North Korean projectile fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The North’s reported launch also came hours after South Korea said North Korea floated huge balloons likely carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korea’s earlier threatened to retaliate with anti-Pyongyang front-line propaganda broadcasts.

The balloons are North Korea’s sixth launch since late May. North Korea says the balloons activities are a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via balloons.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in South Korea on Saturday and South Korean President Yoon Suk