North Korea fires another ballistic missile, South identifies salvaged debris as part of Soviet-era weapon

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile off its east coast, South Korea's military said on Wednesday. No further details about the projectile are available yet. The country has sent a barrage of missiles over the past few weeks, including an ICBM test last week. Experts fear that Pyongyang could be preparing for its first test of a nuclear device since 2017.

Meanwhile, South Koreaidentified debris from an earlier launch as part of a Soviet-era SA-5 surface-to-air missile. The analysis was initially said to be a part of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) that landed near South Korean waters last week.

However,now it has been proventhat theabout threemetres (3.3 yards) long and twometres widepiece was part of an SA-5 anti-aircraft missile, the defence ministry said.

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The firing comes as US holds its midterm polls to decide who controls the two chambers.

Seoul's spy agency had earlier warned that Kim Jong Un might conduct a long-expected nuclear test while US goes to polls.

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"North Korea fires an unspecified ballistic missile towards East Sea," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

Japan also confirmed the launch in a tweet andstrongly condemned it, calling Pyongyang’s repeated launches "absolutely unacceptable".

The missile flew at an altitude of up to 50 km, and covered a range of 250 km, Japan's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters. He said that the government has lodged a strong protest with North Korea via diplomatic channels through Beijing.

Japan's Coast Guard said the ballistic missile appeared to have fallen into the sea minutes after the launch was reported.

Earlier, North Korea had fired a short-range ballistic missile that crossed the de facto maritime border and landed near the South's territorial waters. US and South Korean warplanes have been holding large scale joint air drills called Vigilant Storm. Pyongyang has shown anger about the drills and described them as "aggressive and provocative".

(With inputs from agencies)