SEOUL: The South Korean military said Sunday that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula.

“The object was launched from an area in North Korea’s western region,” the South’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a short statement. It did not provide further details.

The news was first aired by state-run Yonhap news agency.

Earlier in his New Year speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had said that the country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and state media have said such a launch could come at any time.

That prompted a vow of an “overwhelming” response from U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis when he traveled to South Korea earlier this month.

North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology but six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.

Last year the country conducted numerous tests and launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland. In January leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that Pyongyang was in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an apparent attempt to pressure the incoming US president.

Trump shot back on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/816057920223846400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation and the latest launch poses a test for Trump, who will need the help of Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest ally, to deal with the reclusive state.