North Korea has fired what appears to be a ballistic missile from its west coast, the South Korean military reported early Sunday.
According to a South Korean military official, the type of projectile is not yet known, but South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that it appears to be a ballistic missile.
The reported launch comes in the wake of the presidential elections in South Korea, which were won by Moon Jae-in, a candidate who expressed readiness to negotiate with North Korea on its nuclear program.
Tensions around North Korea's activities with both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons have drastically escalated in recent months, after Pyongyang conducted a number of nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches in violation of the UN Security Council's resolutions.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and China, took part in talks with North Korea on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula between 2003 and 2009, when Pyongyang withdrew from the talks.
