North Korean medium-range missile test fails, U.S. says

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) are driven past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017.

"Additional analysis will be needed", said a military official.

"South Korea has some 20 million people within artillery range of North Korea", retired ambassador Chris Hill, the top USA envoy to talks with North Korea under President George W. Bush, said on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program.

Chinese authorities earlier this year ordered travel agencies to halt selling package tours to South Korea in retaliation for the deployment of the US -led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, anti-missile system.

China, which Trump has urged to do more to rein in North Korea, has spoken out against its weapons tests and has supported United Nations sanctions.

"If it had been a nuclear test then other actions would have been taken from the US", the adviser told reporters on the vice president's plane.

Pence's visit, full of Cold War symbolism, came amid increasing tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula.

A missile believed to be the Pukguksong-1, a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

But a White House foreign policy adviser travelling with Pence played down Sunday's test, saying the missile - probably a medium-range one - failed after about four to five seconds.

Chinese travel agencies, including major state-owned ones, have reportedly stopped selling package tours to North Korea amid the regime's continued provocations and saber rattling by Washington.

"The missile blew up nearly immediately", the U.S. Defense Department said of Sunday's early-morning launch from near Sinpo on the North's east coast.

Trump has repeatedly said he will prevent Pyongyang from developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.

The attempted launch occurred a day after the regime of Kim Jong Un showed off a bevy of new missiles and launchers at a large-scale military parade on its most important holiday.

Trump himself asserted on Sunday that China was working with the United States on "the North Korea problem". Thousands of USA and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were also deployed last month in their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which prompted North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rival if they show signs of aggression. During a fellowship meal after the services, he said the tensions on the Korean peninsula had put into sharp focus the importance of the joint U.S.

The Trump administration is hoping that China will help rein in North Korea in exchange for other considerations.

"This has been going on for 60 years, but at the same time, every leader tends to become much more dominating in terms of the way they pressure the North Korean people, the way they go after those that they suspect of trying to be disloyal to the leader", said Panetta. "The type of missile is still being assessed".

The issue has been complicated by China's furious opposition to the prospect of having a high-tech radar system on its doorstep, fearing it could partially neutralize its nuclear deterrent.

North Korea is already among the most heavily sanctioned nations, facing numerous strictures to limit its ability to conduct commerce, participate in global finance and trade in weapons and other contraband.

The high failure rate of the North's missile tests has prompted speculation that the United States is already doing so.

Pence tells reporters near the DMZ that the alliance between South Korea and the U.S.is "ironclad" and is reiterating that "all options are on the table" to pressure North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons and missile program.