
American Strategic Command systems detected a failed North Korean ballistic missile launch Saturday evening near the northwestern city of Kusong, the Pentagon said, according to CNN.
"We strongly condemn this and North Korea's other recent missile tests, which violate UN Security Council resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology," Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said in a statement quoted by the news network.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.
Washington called on Pyongyang to "refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region," Ross said in his statement.
"This provocation only serves to increase the international community's resolve to counter the DPRK's prohibited activities, including through implementing existing UN Security Council sanctions," he continued. "Our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, is ironclad."
The Pentagon said the missile is presumed to be a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. Musadan missiles are capable of reaching Japan and Guam, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
North Korea has carried out several missile and nuclear tests in recent months, the last such test coming on September 9.
Pyongyan thus far has had mixed results with the Musadan missile, according to CSIS.
Four tests of the missile, in April and May, failed, CSIS said. Two more tests came in June, with the first missile breaking up in the air and the second traveling 400 km (250 miles) and falling into the Sea of Japan, CSIS said.
Last month, three ballistic missiles fired from a base in the west of North Korea flew across the country and fell into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye jointly condemned that launch -- which came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile -- promising "more effective" sanctions against the country.
Pyongyang followed the September missile launch with the test explosion of a nuclear warhead later that week.
Amid the tensions in the Korean peninsula, South Korea has been negotiating with the U.S. to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) to protect itself from its northern neighbor.
North Korea's military has in the past threatened a "physical response" if the United States and South Korea deploy the advanced missile defense system to the Korean peninsula.