N.Korea 'silent' about apparent missile launch 'failure'

North Korea's state media stayed mum on Thursday on the country's latest suspected missile test, a day after the South Korean military said the launch appeared to have failed.

The North fired a projectile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang that appeared to have exploded in midair at an altitude below 20 km, Yonhap news agency reported, citing informed sources.

The North's tightly controlled official media, including the Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, did not carry any reports on the launch on Thursday morning.

They usually report on such tests, if presumed successful, the next morning.

The North's latest projectile launch came as the secretive Kim Jong-un regime has stated plans to develop "reconnaissance satellites," which South Korea and the US regard as a disguise for the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.