The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the launch in a text message sent to reporters that the unidentified projectile launch came only three days after the North fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, which it subsequently claimed were guided missiles fired during a shooting rehearsal by a railway-borne unit.

Last week, the North threatened a "stronger and more certain response" to the United States' recent imposition of new sanctions on six North Koreans active in the regime's WMD and ballistic missile programmes.

On January 5 and Tuesday last week, the North test-fired its self-declared hypersonic missile, escalating tensions amid a stalemate in nuclear talks with the US.

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