South Korea claims that North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that North Korea fired a suspected long-range ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast, one day after Seoul suggested the North was preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Joint Chiefs stated in a statement that the launch, which came from a location close to Pyongyang, the capital of the North, was made at a steep angle. It didn’t verify if the missile had fallen.

Additionally, Japan’s Coast Guard reported that North Korea may have fired a ballistic missile. The projectile that was thought to be the North Korean missile was still in the air more than 20 minutes after the claimed launch, according to Japan’s NHK station.

According to South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Command, the North had set up a mobile launcher at a site in anticipation of launching what may be an ICBM on Wednesday, although the missile did not yet seem to be put onto the launcher.