A man watches the news showing file footage of North Korea's missile launch at a railway station in Seoul on February 12, 2017.

North Korea said on Monday it had successfully test-fired a new type of medium- to long-range ballistic missile the previous day, claiming further advancement in a weapons programme it is pursuing in violation of United Nations resolutions.



North Korea fired the ballistic missile into the sea early on Sunday, the first test of U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to get tough on an isolated North Korean regime that tested nuclear devices and ballistic missiles last year at an unprecedented rate.

The North's state-run KCNA news agency said leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the Pukguksong-2, a new type of strategic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.



The United States, Japan and South Korea requested urgent U.N. Security Council consultations on the test, an official in the U.S. mission to the United Nations said. A meeting was expected on Monday afternoon, the official said in a statement.



North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year, although its claims to be able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to be mounted on a missile have never been verified independently.



KCNA said the missile was fired at a high angle in consideration of the safety of neighbouring countries. A South Korean military source said on Sunday the missile reached an altitude of 550 km (340 miles).



It flew a distance of about 500 km, landing off its east coast, towards Japan.