A launch from Wonsan towards the East Sea

North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea on Saturday, according to South Korea and Japan. The South Korean military traced the launch to the Wonsan area at about 6.30am, saying the missile headed towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and flew more than 700km (434 miles).

• •Japan's coast guard, citing the defence ministry, said the object may have been a ballistic missile and appeared to have come down
• •The coast guard also warned ships to take precautions

Seoul heightens monitoring and convenes security council

South Korea's military said it had heightened monitoring of any further missile tests and would share intelligence with the US and Japan. Seoul and Washington were analysing the test for details, it added. On Saturday, the national security council at the presidential office convened an emergency meeting to assess the situation.

One day after Kim Yo-jong's rejection

The firing came the morning after Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un, issued a statement rejecting Seoul's demand for an apology. Seoul had made the demand over what it said were North Korean mines that seriously wounded South Korean soldiers in the demilitarised zone, the heavily guarded buffer between the two Koreas. In the same statement, she gave a warning over whatever Seoul might do about the mine blast:

For the full story of the border blast and the apology row, see our earlier report on the mine blast and Seoul's apology demand.

More than 10 missile tests this year

North Korea has carried out missile tests on more than 10 occasions so far this year, some of them following its protests against joint military drills between Seoul and Washington. Cheong Seong-chang, vice-president at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said the test might be an attempt by Pyongyang to draw a South Korean response to Kim Yo-jong's statement, and that a new type of missile might also have been tested.