North Korea fires possible ballistic missile

"The reality vividly shows that the USA ambition for stifling the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] remains unchanged no matter how much water may flow under the bridge and the puppet group's ambition for invading the north remains unchanged", North Korea's official news agency KCNA said on Friday.

It is also believed to be developing a solid-fuel missile that could be used for submarine launches.

"We continue to monitor North Korea's actions closely", Pacific Command said. "U.S".

One of the three missiles was said to have blown up during its launch, while the other two failed in-flight.

The statement added that the launches "did not pose a threat to North America" or Guam.

This post will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

South Korea and the United States call the exercises defensive in nature, but North Korea sees them as provocative and hostile, perhaps even preparation for an invasion.

On July 28, North Korea tested its Hwasong-14 ballistic missile, which with a range of 10,000 km (6,200 miles) is theoretically capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

In recent weeks the North has threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward Guam, but has since backed away from the plan and tensions have eased.

With Saturday's test, it remains unclear if that door has now closed.

Despite these histrionics and a brief subsequent pause, threats of a "merciless strike" against the USA mainland, Hawaii, or Guam were renewed this week.

The missile was launched from a site in the North Korean province of Gangwon and flew for about 250km (150 miles), officials in the South said.

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