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(Image: GETTY/REUTERS)

Kim Jong-un's military fired the projectile from its east coast into the sea off the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, South Korea's military said.

US forces have amassed in the area – after US president Donald Trump vowed to "solve" North Korea.

It is unclear if American warships were the target – or if it was just a warning shot.

US forces are taking part in a three-day military drill off the coast of Japan to prepare for a possible war with North Korea.

More than 800 troops, several destroyer warships and helicopters capable of taking out nuclear submarines took part in the first exercise yesterday.

North Korea threatened to take "necessary counteraction" against the “reckless actions”.

And it seems Crazy Kim is making good on his threat by firing the rocket.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: GOOGLE)

The launch was from Sinpo, a port city on the North's east coast, and the missile flew about 40 miles, South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a short statement.

Initial assessments indicate it was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile.

Sinpo is the site of a North Korean submarine base.

The launch comes just ahead of a meeting between Trump and China's president Xi Jinping this week – where adding more pressure on the North to drop its arms development will take centre stage.

Any launch of objects using ballistic missile technology is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions but the North has defied the ban as infringement of its sovereign rights to self defence and pursuit of space exploration.

(Image: REUTERS)

North Korea attempted to launch a ballistic missile two weeks ago from its east coast and earlier in March fired four missiles towards Japan – some of which came as close as 190 miles to Japan's coast.

The reclusive state has also conducted two nuclear weapons tests since January 2016.

The North is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that can hit the US – and Kim has vowed to test-launch one at any time.

Experts and officials in the South and the US believe Pyongyang is still some time away from mastering all the technology needed for an operational ICBM system, such as re-entry of the atmosphere and subsequent missile guidance.

But the test of new, larger rocket engine was hailed as a leap forward by Kim's trigger-happy regime.