People watch North Korea's launch of a projectile on TV at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, May 4. Photo: AFP/VNA

South Korean military made similar assessment, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to speed up the development of his nuclear weapons “at the fastest possible pace”.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was fired from the North’s capital region and flew to the waters off its eastern coast. The launch, the North’s 14th round of weapons firing this year, also came six days before a new conservative South Korean president takes office for a single five-year term.