North Korea appears to have conducted a missile test on Friday, the third in two weeks, just hours after denouncing a campaign by the United States for further penalties in response to the previous launches as a "provocation" and warning of a harsh response.

The South Korean military stated that its analysts were examining the launch's trajectory and other flight data in order to glean additional information. When North Korea launches a missile, the South Korean military frequently refers to it as "an undetermined projectile" before providing any information.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said the missile was launched toward the east but did not immediately confirm its location or provide any specifics.

Japan's Prime Minister's Office and Defense Ministry both said they spotted the North Korean launch, which they described as a possible ballistic missile.

Tuesday's launch was North Korea's second in less than a week. However, the first launch, which occurred last Thursday, was significantly less sophisticated, according to South Korean officials.

Although U.S. officials are currently evaluating the North's latest weapon firing, analysts who closely watch the hermit state's weapons development programs have classified the missile deployed on Tuesday as a "maneuverable reentry vehicle."

Pyongyang justified its missile launches as exercising its constitutional right to self-defence and accused Washington of deliberately aggravating the situation by implementing fresh sanctions, state media reported early Friday, quoting the foreign ministry.

North Korea's recent development of a "new-type weapon" was part of its drive to modernize its national defense capability and did not target any specific country or jeopardize neighboring nations' security, the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency KCNA.

Earlier on Friday, the North's Foreign Ministry published a statement rejecting the United States' proposal to the United Nations Security Council to impose further sanctions on North Korea in response to the country's six ballistic and other missile tests since September 2021.

Meanwhile, arms control experts continue to warn that North Korea's weapons development program poses a long-term threat to the United States and its allies.

North Korea stated in January last year that it had completed research into manufacturing warheads with a variety of military capabilities, including hypersonic gliding flight warheads for new-generation ballistic missiles, and was preparing to test-manufacture them.

North Korea has not conducted any long-range missile tests of the type that might directly threaten the continental United States since conducting three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017.