SEOUL (Kyodo) -- North Korea fired a missile, presumed by South Korean media to be its intermediate-range Musudan, from its east coast in the early hours of Friday but the launch ended in failure, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch was conducted at 5:30 a.m., and that South Korean and U.S. intelligence assets made a joint assessment that the launch was a failure.
Yonhap News Agency quoted a South Korean intelligence officer as saying, "The missile disappeared in flight within several seconds after its launch. Analysis is being made into the high possibility it might have exploded mid-air."
Yonhap quoted sources as saying the launched missile was a Musudan, whose maximum range is estimated at 4,000 kilometers. If confirmed, it would be its first test-firing of the indigenously developed missile.
Ahead of the convening next month of the North Korean ruling party's first congress in 36 years, at which the leadership is expected to tout the country's military prowess, the failure is certain to put a dent in the prestige of leader Kim Jong Un.
On Thursday, Yonhap reported that South Korea had detected signs of the North having deployed one or two Musudan ballistic missiles in the eastern city of Wonsan on the Hodo Peninsula for launch possibly on Friday, the birthday of the country's late founder Kim Il Sung.
In Washington, a U.S. Defense Department official said the missile launch "was detected and tracked" by the U.S. Strategic Command.
"We assess that the launch failed," the official said.
The missiles were deployed about 20 days ago, loaded on Transporter Erector Launcher vehicles that are used to quickly transport and fire surface-to-air, cruise and ballistic missiles, Yonhap said.
A South Korean Aegis destroyer has been dispatched to the Sea of Japan to cope with any missile launches by the North, the report said.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Econ...e-launch-fails

Kerugian tiap gagal uji coba itu menyentuh angka jutaan dollar gk ya?