TOKYO (Kyodo) — North Korea launched what could be a ballistic missile and it appears to have already fallen, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Tuesday, in a move that came just ahead of the US presidential election.

The launch, which the South Korean military also confirmed, followed Pyongyang’s recent test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the Sea of ​​Japan that marked the longest-ever flight time for one of the country’s missiles.