North Korea missile test ends in failure

People watch news coverage of a North Korean missile launch.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

North Korea conducted a missile launch Wednesday morning, U.S. and South Korean officials said, but it was unsuccessful.

Commander David Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said the missile "appears to have exploded within seconds of launch." It was fired in the vicinity of Kalma, where earlier tests of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile have taken place. U.S. officials believed a missile launch was imminent, as surveillance showed increased activity in the area.

The mobile-launched Musudan is thought to have a minimum range of 1,500 miles, and can be difficult to track and fired on short notice, ABC News reports. North Korea doesn't have the best track record with the missile — in the last year, seven of the eight Musudan launches were failures.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.