North Korea stages failed missile test despite international warnings
Video report by ITV News Reporter Helena Carter
North Korea has staged a failed missile test a day after parading its military might and warning the US it was ready for war.
The unidentified missile exploded on launch from a base on the east coast of North Korea on Sunday, American military officials said.
The test comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Pyongyang over the reclusive country's nuclear weapons programme.
International concern has been mounting, with China expressing fears that "conflict could break out at any moment" and all parties against provocations.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said it "strongly denounces" the launch as a "clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat against the peace and safety of the Korean Peninsula and the international community."
It added that it was ready to take "powerful punitive measures" if the pariah state continues to develop its nuclear programme.
North Korea hosted a military parade in the capital on Saturday in a show of strength, and unveiled what observers fear may be a new kind of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
US officials accompanying Vice President Mike Pence on his visit South Korea today attempted to play down a missile launch which they said had been widely expected.
"We don't need to expend any resources against that. We weren't surprised by it, we were anticipating it," a foreign policy adviser told reporters.
He said initial reports said it was a medium-range missile and failed four to five seconds into the launch.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis said President Donald Trump and his military advisers were "aware of North Korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment."
A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are concerned by reports of a missile test by North Korea and are monitoring the situation closely."
Earlier Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said "we have been here before" and urged North Korea to adhere to UN resolutions and maintain peace.
"We stand alongside our international partners in making clear that North Korea must adhere to UN resolutions designed to secure peace and stability in the region and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said.
Trump has warned that the country is "looking for trouble" and ordered an aircraft carrier group to the region.
Choe Ryong Hae, widely regarded as the secretive state's number two leading official, said Trump was "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula.
He said: "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack."