North Korea 'fails' in new missile test amid tensions

A new North Korean missile test failed yesterday, the South and US said, two weeks after Pyongyang launched four rockets in what it called a drill for an attack on American bases in Japan.

The nuclear-armed North is under several sets of United Nations sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes.

It is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with an atomic warhead, and staged two nuclear tests and multiple missile launches last year.

The North fired one missile from an air base in the eastern port of Wonsan yesterday morning, but the launch "is believed to have failed", Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement, adding it was analysing what type of missile was involved.

The US military said the missile exploded shortly after launch.

Earlier this month Pyongyang launched a flight of four ballistic missiles, with three landing provocatively close to Japan in what the North described as practice for attacks on US military bases in Japan.

On Sunday, its leader Kim Jong-Un personally oversaw and hailed a "successful" test of what Pyongyang said was a new rocket engine -- which can be easily repurposed for use in missiles.

Seoul said that experiment showed "meaningful progress" in the North's missile capabilities.

The developments come as Seoul and Washington hold large-scale annual joint military exercises that always infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as a rehearsal for invasion.

Sunday's engine test was apparently timed to coincide with a recent Asia trip by new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who warned that regional tensions had reached a "dangerous level".

Washington would drop the "failed" approach of "strategic patience" with Pyongyang, Tillerson said, warning that US military action was an "option on the table" if necessary -- a sharp divergence from China's insistence on a diplomatic approach to its neighbour, which it has long protected.

Beijing said it had "taken note" of reports of the failed missile launch and that the US was considering more sanctions, and urged "relevant parties" to show restraint.