The South Korean military says North Korea attempted to launch a missile on April 15, the birthday of the country’s "eternal president," Kim Il Sung, but that it failed. (Reuters) 
 
 North Korea tried but failed to launch an intermediate-range missile Friday, American and South Korean military officials said, dealing the regime an embarrassing blow on the most important day of the year on the North Korean calendar. 
 
 To mark the 104th anniversary of the birthday of the country’s "eternal president," Kim Il Sung, North Korea launched a missile from its east coast at about 5:30 a.m. local time. But it deviated from a "normal" trajectory, an official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Seoul. 
 
 “North Korea appears to have tried a missile launch from the East Sea [Sea of Japan] area early morning today, but it is presumed to have failed,” the official said. 
 
 But South Korea's military is still on high alert. "We are preparing against the possibility that the North could carry out heavyweight provocations at any time, including the fifth nuclear test," a military official said, according to the Yonhap News Agency. 
 
 [North Korea unveils homemade engine for missile capable of striking U.S.] 
 
 A U.S. defense official said that the U.S. Strategic Command systems had also “detected and tracked” the missile. “We assess that the launch failed,” he said. 
 
 Initial analysis suggested that the missile was a Musudan, also known as a BM-25, the kind that South Korean authorities had detected being moved Thursday near Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast. 
 
 The Musudan is an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of traveling 1,500 to 2,500 miles — putting the U.S. territory of Guam within reach — and of carrying a 1.3-ton nuclear warhead, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative. 
 
 North Korea has displayed the Musudan at its military parades and is believed to have supplied assembly kits for the missile to Iran, but it had never tested this model of missile before. 
 
 
 
 Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, said the failure would “reinforce the persistent denial” about North Korea’s capabilities. 
 
 “But in fact, they will have learned a lot from this launch. Not as much as they would have learned if it had succeeded, but still something,” Lewis said. 
 
 The Musudan uses the same sort of engine as the submarine-launched ballistic missile that North Korea tested last year but that also failed. 
 
 “Clearly they have a problem, but maybe next time it will work. It took them a couple of launches to get the Taepodong-2 going,” Lewis said, referring to the ballistic-missile technology that has now put two North Korean satellites into orbit. 
 
 At the same time, North Korea has been making a series of claims about technological advances, from building solid-fuel rocket engines to miniaturizing nuclear warheads. The regime recently claimed that it could send a ­nuclear-tipped missile to the U.S. mainland. 
 
 [North Korea claims it could wipe out Manhattan with a hydrogen bomb] 
 
 Although this has not been proved, U.S. military officials and nonproliferation experts say that North Korea is clearly working toward this goal. The Musudan test could be part of this program. 
 
 At a hearing of a Senate Armed Services subcommittee this week, Brian McKeon, a senior Pentagon official, said North Korea’s weapons and missile programs pose a growing threat to the United States and its allies in East Asia. 
 
 North Korea is “seeking to develop longer-range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the United States and continues efforts to bring [a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile] to operational capacity,” he said. 
 
 Although an untested long-range missile was unlikely to be reliable, North Korea’s successful satellite launches showed it was mastering the technologies that would be needed, McKeon said. 
 
 China’s official Xinhua News Agency said North Korea’s failed firing of a mid-range ballistic missile Friday was “the latest in a string of saber-rattling that, if unchecked, will lead the country to nowhere.” 
 
 Since Kim Jong Un ordered his military to conduct a fourth nuclear test in January — which North Korea claimed was a hydrogen-bomb explosion, although outside experts are highly skeptical — there has been a steady stream of projectiles emanating from North Korea. 
 
 1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Children’s Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 In February, Kim oversaw the launch of what North Korea said was a satellite launch vehicle but which was widely viewed as part of an intercontinental ballistic missile program. Since then, there have been numerous short-range missile launches and rockets fired into the Sea of Japan. 
 
 [North Korea has new rocket system that could strike Seoul this year, South Korea warns] 
 
 North Korea is banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions from launching ballistic missiles or carrying out nuclear tests, but it continues to do so. 
 
 The international community has responded to North Korea’s latest provocations with tough sanctions aimed at cutting off the state’s ability to procure parts and finance its weapons-of-mass-destruction program. 
 
 This push coincided with two-month-long drills between the U.S. and South Korean militaries, during which they are practicing their response to the collapse of North Korea. The drills, which conclude at the end of this month, include computer-simulated “decapitation strikes” on the North Korean leadership. 
 
 Amid this background of heightened tensions, North Korea has been preparing for two key events — the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth and the first congress of the communist Workers’ Party in 36 years. 
 
 The country is in the grip of a “70-day campaign” to prepare for the congress, set for early next month. Analysts expect Kim Jong Un to use the event to bolster his legitimacy. 
 
 Kim, who is 33, is not only incredibly young by the standards of Korea, where age is revered, but he also did not have the kind of long preparation and introduction that his father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, enjoyed. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 North Korea scolds Obama by adopting the voice of Abraham Lincoln 
 
 What it’s like to be an American held in North Korea 
 
 The weird world of North Korea’s restaurants abroad ||||| SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea attempted and failed to launch what experts believe was an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday in defiance of U.N. sanctions and in an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, drawing criticism from major ally China. 
 
 North Korea leader Kim Jong Un smiles as he visits Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, North Pyongan province for the testing of a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 9, 2016. REUTERS/KCNA 
 
 The U.S. Defense Department called the test of the road-mobile missile, which came as North Korea celebrated the birthday of Kim’s grandfather and North Korea’s founding father Kim Il Sung, a “fiery, catastrophic” failure. 
 
 The test, on North Korea’s so-called “Day of the Sun,” followed its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to new U.N. sanctions that have failed to halt Pyongyang’s weapons programs. 
 
 South Korean officials and international experts said the failed test heightened the possibility that North Korea would conduct a fifth nuclear test, possibly within weeks. 
 
 The U.S.-based 38 North website, which specializes in North Korea, said there has been activity at the country’s nuclear site based on satellite imagery and on Wednesday said the possibility of a fifth nuclear test “could not be ruled out.” 
 
 U.S. officials said the missile tested on Friday never got off the launch pad but further tests were expected. 
 
 “We’re still assessing the specifics of it but I can tell you that it was a fiery, catastrophic attempt at a launch,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a briefing. “It was not successful.” 
 
 Davis said the U.S. military thought the device was a road-mobile missile because the launch occurred at a coastal site where Pyongyang ordinarily does not test rockets. 
 
 He said North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States and often fires missiles during periods of tension, remained a security concern in spite of the failure. 
 
 “We know that this is a capability that they are aiming towards,” he said. It’s ... a missile system that they’ve displayed on multiple occasions and that is why we have a ballistic missile defense system that we have invested in very heavily to be able to outpace that threat as that threat develops further.” 
 
 CHINA ANGERED 
 
 The White House strongly condemned the latest launch attempt and said Washington would work with China and other countries to put pressure on North Korea, which faced the prospect of further isolation. 
 
 China, North Korea’s most important economic and diplomatic backer, has been angered by Pyongyang’s nuclear tests and rocket launches and has backed U.N. sanctions. 
 
 “The firing of a mid-range ballistic missile on Friday by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), though failed, marks the latest in a string of saber-rattling that, if unchecked, will lead the country to nowhere,” China’s official Xinhua news agency said in an English language commentary. 
 
 “... Nuclear weapons will not make Pyongyang safer. On the contrary, its costly military endeavors will keep on suffocating its economy.” 
 
 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the U.N. Security Council was clear on North Korean rocket launches. 
 
 “At present, the situation on the peninsula is complex and sensitive,” he told reporters. “We hope all parties can strictly respect the decisions of the Security Council and avoid taking any steps that could further worsen tensions.” 
 
 In 2012, Kim Il Sung’s birthday was also marked by an attempted long-range rocket launch, which also failed. 
 
 The missile was likely a Musudan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said, an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) that can be fired from a road mobile launcher but which has never been flight-tested. 
 
 Experts see North Korea’s Musudan test as part of an effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach the mainland United States. The Musudan theoretically could reach the U.S. Pacific island of Guam. 
 
 North Korea is to hold a congress of its ruling Workers Party - the first such meeting in 36 years - in early May, at which Kim Jong Un is likely to trumpet his achievements in building up Pyongyang’s weapons prowess. 
 
 South Korean officials and experts say he will be keen to go into that with a show of strength, not a failed rocket launch, making the possibility of another nuclear test more likely. 
 
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the ballistic rocket launch drill of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) at an unknown location, in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on March 11, 2016. REUTERS/KCNA/Files 
 
 In a new report on Friday, 38 North said it had seen fresh activity in satellite images of North Korea’s main nuclear complex, suggesting that reprocessing may be under way to produce more plutonium for atomic bombs.[L5N17I4IM] 
 
 38 North predicted last year that North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile could grow to 20, 50 or 100 bombs within five years, from an estimated 10 to 16 weapons at that time.
– North Korea's "Day of the Sun" became the "Day of the Flop" after an attempt to mark its founder's birthday with a missile launch fizzled, according to South Korean officials. An official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says the missile launch from the country's east coast early Friday deviated from a normal trajectory, the Washington Post reports. An American military official says the US also detected and tracked the failed launch, which took place on the most important day in Pyongyang's calendar, the birthday of Kim Il Sung. Officials suspect the missile was a Musudan intermediate-range missile, also known as a BM-25, which Pyongyang has displayed in military parades but never tested before. The country fired a different kind of medium-range missile into the sea last month. Even North Korea's closest ally denounced the latest launch attempt, reports Reuters. The launch, "though failed, marks the latest in a string of saber-rattling that, if unchecked, will lead the country to nowhere," China's Xinhua news agency said. "Nuclear weapons will not make Pyongyang safer. On the contrary, its costly military endeavors will keep on suffocating its economy." (Seoul is getting some vital information from a high-level defector.)