North Korea on Monday fired a missile as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea, where he warned Pyongyang was working ever more closely with Russia on advanced space technology.

Blinken's trip came as investigators were trying to arrest conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has entrenched himself in his residence after being impeached for a failed attempt to impose martial law.

Blinken, who had planned to encourage South Korea to maintain Yoon's policy of enhancing cooperation with Japan, was in talks in Seoul when North Korea fired a ballistic missile that fell into the sea.

The missile flew around 1,100 kilometres (680 miles), the South Korean military said.

"Today's launch is just a reminder to all of us of how important our collaborative work is," Blinken said, pointing to increased three-way exercises and intelligence-sharing on North Korea.

Blinken and his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul condemned the launch at a joint news conference, where the outgoing US top diplomat warned that Russia was stepping up support for North Korea as a reward for its help fighting........

© International Business Times