North Korea launches ballistic missile, South Korea says, two days after claiming to repel U.S. spy plane

North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile toward its eastern waters Wednesday, its neighbors said, two days after the North threatened "shocking" consequences to protest what it called a provocative U.S. reconnaissance activity near its territory.

South Korea's military detected the long-range missile launch from the North's capital region around 10 a.m., the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said South Korea's military bolstered its surveillance posture and maintained readiness in close coordination with the United States.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that the North Korean missile was likely launched on a lofted trajectory, at a steep angle that North Korea typically uses to avoid neighboring countries when it tests long-range missiles.