Breaking: North Korea fires missile towards the east

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Japanese coast guard say.

The Japanese government warned citizens to take cover on Tuesday as the missile appeared to have flown over and past its territory before falling into the Pacific ocean.

The latest launch was Pyongyang’s fifth in 10 days, amid military muscle-flexing by the United States and South Korea, which staged trilateral anti-submarine exercises last week with Japanese naval forces.