North Korean missile may have exploded over Pyongyang: South Korea's JCS

The trail of what appears to be a North Korean missile is seen near South Korea's northwestern border island of Yeonpyeong on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles in the early hours of Monday, with one of the missiles possibly failing and landing inside North Korea, according to South Korean military authorities.

One short-range ballistic missile was fired from the Jangyon area in South Hwanghae Province at around 5:05 a.m. and flew about 600 kilometers (372 miles), landing in the ocean off North Korea's northeastern coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

Another ballistic missile was launched at around 5:15 a.m. but flew only about 120 kilometers.

"The second missile may have flown abnormally in the initial stage of its launch," said Col. Lee Sung-jun, the spokesperson for the JCS. "If it exploded during the launch, the debris could have fallen on North Korean territory."

An official from the JCS said that while it is difficult to know exactly where the second missile landed because it disappeared from the radar during its launch, it is possible that it fell toward Pyongyang.

“While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance against additional launches, our military is maintaining a full-readiness posture while sharing North Korean ballistic missile data with the U.S. and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said.

Monday’s provocation comes five days after North Korea launched a ballistic missile Wednesday and claimed through its state media that it was a successful test to secure multiple warhead capabilities, contrary to Seoul’s assessment that the test failed.

It also comes after Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry on Sunday blasted South Korea, the United States and Japan for carrying out "Freedom Edge," the first trilateral multi-domain military exercise, the day before.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said that it will “never overlook the moves of the U.S. and its followers to strengthen the military bloc,” adding that it will “firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”

According to the JCS, the new trilateral exercise aims to improve trilateral interoperability.

Freedom Edge is the first iteration of a regular exercise conducted in multiple domains, including air, sea, underwater, space and cyber. It is meant to advance trilateral military cooperation, stepping up from the existing bilateral drills between the United States and its East Asian allies.

Pyongyang has recently been scaling up its provocations by launching ballistic missiles and sending waste balloons across the border to South Korea. In response to the distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets by defectors and activists in the South, North Korea sent thousands of waste balloons across the border in a total of seven rounds between May 28 and June 26.

Update, July 1: Added details about the suspected failed missile launch, including the rocket's possible explosion over Pyongyang.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]