TOKYO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government lodged a protest with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday over the test-firing of a missile by the country earlier in the day.
Japan's foreign ministry said that the missile launch was a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and it has communicated the protest to the DPRK through a diplomatic channel.
The DPRK fired an unidentified missile at about 6:20 a.m. local time from its eastern coastal city of Sinpo, but it was believed to have exploded on launch, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pentagon of the United States has also confirmed the DPRK's missile launch, saying that the missile blew up almost immediately and the type of missile is still being assessed.
A crisis management center at the Japanese prime minister's office said later that it has reached the same conclusion as the United States that the DPRK launched a missile but it exploded.
Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan has been trying to gather and analyze information about the test-launch but refrained from giving more details.
The test-launch came amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, following the dispatching of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships to the peninsula.
