North Korean flag
North Korean flagReuters

North Korea fired an unidentified projectile on Wednesday (local time), the military of neighboring South Korea said, according to Reuters.

The projectile was fired from the Sinpo region on the east coast of North Korea into the sea off the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

The U.S. military's Pacific Command said in a statement that initial assessments indicate the projectile was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile.

The launch comes just ahead of a summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping this week. The two leaders are likely to discuss adding more pressure on the North to drop its arms development.

The reported launch is the latest in a series of provocations from North Korea. The country tested a powerful new rocket engine in mid March. The test was hailed by its leader Kim Jong-Un as a "new birth" for the nation's rocket industry.

Officials subsequently said North Korea had conducted another ballistic missile engine test, this time testing engine technology could possibly be used in an eventual intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Earlier in March, Pyongyang fired ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest coast, in what was claimed to be a training exercise for a strike on American bases in Japan.

North Korea’s tests are in violation of the sanctions that the UN Security Council has imposed on it.