Allies seem 'confused' about N. Korea's latest missile firing

Citing an initial assessment, the US Pacific Command also said the projectile appears to be a KN-15 ballistic missile, which Pyongyang calls Pukguksong-2. Fired from a land-based facility in the port city of Sinpo, it flew nine minutes, added PACOM.

But foreign news agency quoted unnamed US defense officials as saying later that the missile might be a Scud-ER (extended range).

They were cited as saying that the launch ended in a failure as the missile crashed into the waters after in-flight trouble.

JCS officials were guarded about the news reports.

"There is no additional information to provide other than that a further analysis is under way, as I said yesterday," Col. Roh Jae-cheon, the JCS spokesman, said at a press briefing.

He would not confirm if the North's latest missile firing was a success or a failure.

PACOM also shifted to a more cautious view.

"I think 'medium range ballistic missile' is the most appropriate characterization for yesterday's missile launch," Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesman for PACOM, said in a brief email to Yonhap News Agency. He would not provide more details.

Usually, Scud-ER is categorized as a medium-range ballistic missile and KN-15 is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. 

In another email later, he stressed that the PACOM's release was based on its "initial assessment."

"To my knowledge, a more detailed assessment is still being made, and no final determination has been made beyond the more general category of medium-range ballistic missile," he added.

Pyongyang's state media remained silent about Wednesday's provocation.

In February, it test-fired a KN-15 ballistic missile, an upgraded version of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which flew more than 500km into the eastern waters.

A day later, the communist nation announced the "complete success" of the launch.

South Korea's unification ministry said that it is too early to judge the reason why North Korea remains mum about the missile launch.

"As authorities are analyzing details about the missile, we will be able to gauge North Korea's intent (not to report the missile launch) after results of the analysis come out," said a ministry official.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Kyungnam University, raised doubts over North Korea's firing of a type of KN-15 ballistic missile.

"In February, the North fired the Pukguksong-2 on a mobile launcher from an inland place," he said. "I don't understand (the view) that North Korea launched such a missile near on the coast like a trial flight-test." (Yonhap)