North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards its east on Wednesday, according to South Korea’s military.

A brief statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further detail, such as how far the weapon flew.

Earlier, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the launch was towards the sea off North Korea’s east coast.

What an admission of failure says about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions

Kim Jong Un’s public condemnation of the bungled warship launch was a rare admission of failure from inside North Korea, but experts say it says a lot about its bigger plans.

This development comes as world leaders including US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due in South Korea for talks next week.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Forum, APEC, is being held in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un displayed a new long-range missile at a massive military parade in Pyongyang with top Chinese, Russian and other leaders present.

The event marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

AP/Reuters