North Korea fires unidentified projectile, South Korea military says

North Korea fired an unidentified projectile off the country's west coast on Tuesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.



If confirmed as a missile launch, it would be the first since April 19, when North Korea test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles, which it said were equipped with cluster bombs.



In early April, Pyongyang also said it tested a new cluster-bomb warhead on a ballistic missile and an electromagnetic weapon, in a move that analysts said was part of efforts to showcase the North's capacity to fight a modern war.



North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in March that his country's status as a nuclear-armed state was irreversible and that expanding a "self-defensive nuclear deterrent" was essential to national security.