SOUTH KOREA SAYS NORTH MISSILE LAUNCH LIKELY FAILED

Seoul, South Korea — A North Korean missile launch likely failed today, according to South Korea’s military, the latest in a string of high-profile failures that tempers somewhat recent worries that Pyongyang was pushing quickly toward its goal of a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach America’s mainland.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said in an unsourced report that the missile was a powerful mid-range Musudan, which, if true, would make it the fourth failure by the North to conduct a successful test launch of the new missile, which could potentially reach far-away U.S. military bases in Asia and the Pacific. Seoul defense officials could not immediately confirm the report.