North Korea fires suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile

North Korea has defied international sanctions on its weapons program and has continued to ramp up the testing of weapons it deems essential to its survival.

North Korea appears to have fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea off its eastern coast, Japan's Ministry of Defense said Saturday.

South Korea's military said it detected an unidentified projectile as well.

The launch comes just three days after Pyongyang fired a suspected ballistic missile from the Sunan district of the capital.

The latest is likely Pyongyang's 15th missile launch this year alone.

North conducts string of tests

Japan and the United States condemned last week's launch, with Washington reiterating the North kept violating multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban it from all ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

In March, the US levied a fresh round of sanctions on several individuals and entities in North Korea, as well as allies Russia and China, in a bid to stiffen sanctions against the North's missile program.

The sanctions were in response to the North's claim of having fired one of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) yet.

Experts later debunked the claim, saying the North fired more or less the same type of ICBM it fired in 2017, the last time it fired the weapon prior to its test earlier this year in March.