North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday morning, including what appears to be a long-range ballistic missile. 

The military has not ruled out the possibility that it could have been an intercontinential ballistic missile(ICBM) as it went through stage separation.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said that it detected a suspected long-range ballistic missile launched from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 7:40 a.m. and two apparent short-range ballistic missiles from the Kaechon area in South Pyongan Province from 8:39 a.m.

The National Security Office(NSO) of the South Korean Presidential Office said that the long-range projectile is suspected to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile(IRBM).

In a telephone conversation with KBS, an official at the NSO said that the long-range projectile falls short of indicators of an ICBM given its shorter flight distance.

Initial analyses from Japan said that the long-range projectile flew some 750 kilometers but later disappeared from the radar, suggesting a possible failure.

Japan initially said that the projectile flew over Japanese territory, but Tokyo’s defense ministry later said that the missile did not fly over the country.

The South Korean JCS said that the military is maintaining a firm readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States while enhancing monitoring and surveillance efforts.

The latest round of launches comes after the North fired around 25 ballistic missiles and 100 artillery shells on Wednesday, taking issue with the large-scale Vigilant Storm air drills between South Korea and the U.S. running from Monday to Friday.