North Korean Musudan Ballistic Missile Launch Appears To Have Failed: South

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched an intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile early morning of Tuesday, but the launch appears to have failed, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

"North Korea attempted to launch an unidentified missile from the region near Wonsan at around 5:20 a.m., but it is presumed to have been unsuccessful," the JCS was quoted as saying by Yonhap Tuesday.

The military is studying details of the launch and is maintaining a high level of combat preparedness, the JCS said.

Sources said the launched missile could be a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. Pyongyang fired off three Musudan missiles in April, which all ended in failure.

The DPRK test-launched three Musudan missiles this year alone, two on April 28 and one on April 15 each, but all of the three test-firings were believed to have failed as the missiles exploded in mid-air or crashed in waters several seconds after lift-off.