North Korea missile fails again after launch: South Korea, U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - North Korea test-fired a missile that failed immediately after launch early on Thursday, October 20 the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, hours after the two countries agreed to step up efforts to counter the North's nuclear and missile threats, Reuters reports.

The missile was believed to be an intermediate-range Musudan and was launched from the western city of Kusong, where the isolated state attempted but failed to launch the same type of missile on Saturday, the U.S. Strategic Command and South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The launch came shortly after the United States and South Korea agreed in Washington to bolster military and diplomatic efforts to counter the North's nuclear and missile programs, which it is pursuing in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

"We strongly condemn the North's continued illegal acts of provocation," the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

Japan condemned the launch and said it would make a formal protest to the North through its embassy in Beijing, Reuters says.

The failed missile launch was the eighth attempt in seven months by the North to launch a weapon with a design range of 3,000 km that can be fired from road mobile launchers, the two militaries said.

North Korea has been conducting activities related to its nuclear and missile programs at an unprecedented pace this year in defiance of UN sanctions and diplomatic pressure and is believed to be making progress in its efforts to develop a nuclear missile.

North Korea said on Thursday that it would continue to launch satellites despite its rival South's objections, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said, citing the North's state media.

Pyongyang says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program by launching rockets carrying satellites, most recently in February, although Washington and Seoul worry that such launches are missile tests in disguise.