North Korea Fired Missile That Failed Immediately After Launch: South Korea

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An aid to the South Korean military has stated that North Korea fired an "unknown projectile" on Wednesday, 16 March, which failed immediately after the launch.

"North Korea fired an unknown projectile from the Sunan area around 09:30 today, but it is presumed that it failed immediately after launch," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what North Korea launched, but it was most likely fired from an airfield outside Pyongyang, the capital.

The object is suspected to be a missile given that the airfield has been in the past the site of several missile launches, some of which the US alleges were intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

NK News reported that witnesses heard loud "blowing" sounds, followed by a "crash", and that they had seen a red-tinted ball of smoke in the sky, BBC reported.

The "reddish-orange smoke" is associated with "very toxic" liquid fuel, according to Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Experts say the government led by Kim Jong-un wants to boost its ICBM capability, and at the same time, send its first spy satellite into orbit.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has vowed to improve his country's ICBM capability, and deal with what he calls 'American hostility'.

Pyongyang has so far carried out nine weapons tests this year already. The US claims that these tests were experimental and part of a new ICBM that Kim Jong-un wants to develop.

(With inputs from Reuters and BBC)