The Teligraph news Today..North Korea fired an unidentified projectile on a southern path off its west coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said, leading Japan to warn residents to take cover.

The launch appeared to originate from Dongchang-ri, a northwestern area of the country where North Korea’s main space flight centre is based, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

An emergency warning ordered Japan’s residents in Okinawa to take cover, but was quickly lifted by the prime minister’s office.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed video of what appeared to be an orange dot flying into the night sky and then bursting into flames in an area close to the border between China and North Korea.

A Japanese defence ministry official told reporters that the colour of the flames in the footage suggests that liquid fuel may be burning, but details are currently being analysed.

Seoul said that “many fragments of projectile” were found in the ocean.

North Korea had earlier notified Japan’s coast guard about its plans to launch “a satellite rocket” during a launch window between May 27 and June 4.

Officials from Japan, the US and South Korea called on North Korea to halt the launch, which it said would help Pyongyang’s ballistic missile program and is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The nuclear-armed North sent its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit in November last year as part of efforts to build a space-based surveillance network. It said it was necessary to cope with what it calls increasing US-led military threats.

North Korea claims its November probe has taken photos of sites including the White House and that it wants to use spy satellites to keep an eye on US forces in the region.

South Korea conducted an air exercise near its border with North Korea in a show of force hours after Japan received the notification. The drills involved about 20 fighters including F-35A stealth jets, South Korea’s military said.