North Korea launched an unidentified projectile toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The JCS did not immediately disclose the number of projectiles launched, their flight distances or other specifications.
If confirmed to be a ballistic missile, the launch would mark North Korea's 19th such launch of the year, following its firing of more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area on Oct. 29.
Earlier Monday, the JCS said it does not publicly disclose every North Korean weapons launch, but acknowledged that it has generally announced ballistic missile launches because they violate UN Security Council resolutions. The remarks followed criticism over its failure to immediately disclose a North Korean ballistic missile launch on Oct. 31.
The latest launch also comes amid growing tensions between North Korea and the United States over Washington's accusations that Pyongyang was behind a record-breaking cryptocurrency heist targeting Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Earlier Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rejected the US allegations and said Pyongyang saw no need for dialogue with Washington as long as it maintained what she described as its hostile policy toward the North.
"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us," Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
On Saturday, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance to North Korean hackers, an accusation Pyongyang has dismissed as a political provocation.
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