North Korea said Tuesday it successfully test-fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, claiming the weapon would "reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region."

North Korea in recent years has flight tested various intermediate-range missiles, which if perfected, could reach the U.S. Pacific military hub of Guam. In recent months, North has been testing combining these missiles with purported hypersonic warheads to improve their survivability.

North Korea has fired what appears to be an intermediate range ballistic missile towards the sea to its east, South Korea's military said, in what is Pyongyang's first missile launch in two months. Japan's defence ministry said around noon local time (03:00 GMT) that the projectile had already fallen into the sea.