North Korea launches a suspected missile for the second time in six days.

North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile, less than a week after launching a hypersonic missile, according to Pyongyang.

The launch was detected at 07:27 local time on Tuesday, according to South Korea (22:27 GMT on Monday).

The launch was also detected by the Japanese coast guard, which said North Korea fired a “ballistic missile-like device.”

It comes after a declaration from six countries urging the North to stop its “destabilizing activities.”

“Our military detected a suspected North Korean ballistic missile fired from land towards the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said, adding that intelligence officials from South Korea and the United States were conducting a detailed examination.

The US delegation to the United Nations, together with France, Ireland, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Albania, released an unified statement condemning the purported test last week on Monday.

“These acts raise the danger of mistake and escalation, and they pose a substantial threat to regional stability,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

North Korea was urged to “refrain from additional destabilizing acts… and engage in meaningful conversation toward our shared goal of full denuclearization,” according to the group.

North Korea has launched two missile tests in rapid succession to ring in the new year.

The launch could be timed to coincide with a UN Security Council meeting in New York, where the US and its allies blasted the launch last week.

It might, however, be used for a variety of other purposes.

One possibility is to redirect public attention away from the country’s deteriorating economic position, which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak.

Another possibility is to attract the attention of Washington, which has showed little interest in resuming talks with Pyongyang following the failure of the Trump-Kim summit in 2019.

There is a third explanation that is less frequently mentioned. North and South Korea are engaged in an increasingly fierce weapons race, according to analysts, with both sides seeking to create smaller, more accurate, more lethal missile systems with which to threaten each other’s leaders.

The new tests come as Pyongyang battles food shortages as a result of a coronavirus blockade that has wreaked havoc on the country’s economy.

Mr Kim said the country was in a “great life-and-death struggle” at the ruling party’s end-of-year gathering, adding that growing development and raising people’s living standards were among this year’s aims.

North Korea’s vulnerable children and old adults are at risk of hunger, according to UN officials.

North Korea has been urged by the United States to give up its nuclear weapons, and Pyongyang’s relationship with President Joe Biden’s administration has been tense thus far.

North Korea has also accused South Korea of applying double standards when it comes to its military exercises.

South Korea recently conducted its first submarine-launched ballistic missile test, claiming that it was necessary as a deterrent to North Korea’s “provocations.”