Malaysia strongly condemned the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea, describing the action as another flagrant violation of the multiple United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and further undermining the global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime.

Wisma Putra in a statement said Malaysia expressed serious concern that the ballistic missile has yet again traversed the sovereign territory of Japan, posing a direct threat to its national security.

"Such provocative action further aggravates the existing tension in the Korean Peninsula and the region. It is yet another setback to efforts by the international community to find a durable solution and maintain peace in the region," it said.

China's Xinhua news agency on Friday reported that the United States military in a statement said that it had detected and tracked what they assessed as a single ballistic missile launch by North Korea with initial assessment indicating it was an intermediate range ballistic missile launch, occurring near Sunan in Pyongyang, at 11.57am Hawaii time (2157 GMT)

The news agency quoted the US Pacific Command that the missile flew over northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean, east of Japan.

In this regard, Wisma Putra stated that Malaysia called for the exercise of self-restraint by all parties, in particular the Pyongyang regime, and underscored the immediate need to generate conditions conducive to the resumption of dialogue.

"Malaysia is dismayed at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's continued defiance of the repeated calls by the international community for the Pyongyang regime to seek a peaceful path in addressing the situation in the Korean Peninsula," it stated.

Malaysia strongly urge North Korea to desist from conducting further tests, halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programme completely, and comply fully with its obligations under the relevant UNSC resolutions in the interest of the maintenance of international peace and security, the statement added.

-- BERNAMA