North Korea missile flies over 700 km, Seoul says

North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew more than 700 kilometres from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea, South Korea's military said, days before major US-South Korea drills are due to begin.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch was detected at around 6:00 am Wednesday local time, or 2100 GMT Tuesday. It said Seoul and Washington were analysing the missile's specifications.

Japan's defence ministry described the object as a suspected ballistic missile and said it was thought to have already fallen, without giving further details. Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called the launch a threat to regional peace and security and said Tokyo had lodged a strong protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels in Beijing.

South Korea's national security office convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday. Participants called recent launches provocative acts and demanded that Pyongyang halt them immediately.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises are due to start on Monday and last 11 days. They are a regular summer drill intended to prepare South Korean and US forces to defend against nuclear-armed North Korea. The drills will include 18,000 South Korean troops and US counterparts drawn from the 28,500-strong US contingent in South Korea.

North Korea has long criticised the joint drills as rehearsals for invasion and has staged missile launches before and after the exercises in the past.

Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said Monday that the training would account for North Korean troops' experience from deployment in Europe. North Korea has backed Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, and Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of launching North Korean missiles in an attack that killed 10 people and wounded dozens.