This latest missile flew over Japan and landed out in the Pacific Ocean,... and appears to

be Pyongyang's response to the UN Security Council sanctions approved earlier this week.

Let's hear more from our defense ministry correspondent, Kim Hyun-bin, who joins us

on the line.

Hyun-bin...

Good morning, Mark.

North Korea launched... what we now know... was an intermediate ballistic missile early

Friday morning from an area near Pyongyang.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says the IRBM was fired at 6:57 a.m., South Korea time,

from Sunan near the North Korean capital.

It flew over northern Japan and came down in the north Pacific.

South Korea's Joints Chief of Staff says the missile hit an altitude of 770 kilometers

and flew around 37-hundred kilometers.

Seoul and Washington are currently analyzing the launch to confirm what type of missile

it was, but many experts say the missile was most likely a Hwasong-12.

Late last month North Korea fired a Hwasong-12 over Japan,... which travelled 27-hundred

kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of about 550 kilometers.

Today's launch followed a similar path, but flew one thousand kilometers further than

the previous launch 17 days ago.

In response, the South Korean military has conducted its own ballistic missile training

exercise in the East Sea.

The military fired a Hyunmoo-two,... which has a range of 250 kilometers.

The Joints Chief of Staff says the missile was fired considering the distance between

the training ground and the Sunan airfield,... the origin of this morning's provocation.

North Korea's latest launch also comes four days after UN Security Council slapped stronger

sanctions on the regime for its sixth nuclear test conducted earlier this month.

I'll keep an eye on any updates,.. and bring them to you during the next newscast at noon.

Back to you.