Story highlights Missile was launched near Kalma, on North Korea's east coastIt comes four days after Pyongyang announced it tested a new rocket engine(CNN) A North Korean missile fired Wednesday exploded "within seconds of launch," according to US Pacific Command. US officials confirmed North Korea had attempted to launch a missile near Kalma, on the country's east coast, but early reports suggest it failed. "South Korea and the US are aware of the missile launch and to their knowledge North Korea's missile was not successfully launched," South Korea's Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Neither the US nor South Korea have released information on what type of missile was fired, or why it failed. The attempted launch comes four days after the country announced it had tested a new rocket engine, describing it as a "great leap forward" in their missile program.

Source: CNN March 22, 2017 03:44 UTC