Unidentified North Korean ballistic missile fired

According to the Yonhap news agency, which cited the South Korean military, North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile Thursday morning in the direction of the ocean.

The missile was reportedly fired toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Pyongyang's most recent act of defiance amid intense tensions with Seoul and Washington.

According to the agency, the military of the South gave no preliminary information about the launch.

Japan officially acknowledged the launch when the prime minister's office tweeted at 1034 GMT that "North Korea launched what appears to be a ballistic missile."

A flurry of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including the launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles and the purported testing of underwater drones with nuclear weapons capability, have started the year.

In order to discuss how to "cope with the escalating moves of the US imperialists and the south Korean puppet traitors to unleash a war of aggression," North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attended a Central Military Commission meeting on Monday, according to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency.

Kim ordered North Korea to strengthen deterrence capabilities to prepare for "real war".