North Korea launches its first missile in 2 months, says US official

Trump “was briefed, while missile was still in the air, on the situation in North Korea,” tweets White House press secretary.

A U.S. official says North Korea has conducted its first ballistic missile launch in more than two months.

The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The Pentagon on Tuesday was more cautious, calling it a “probable” missile launch. Col. Rob Manning, a spokesman, said, “We detected a probable missile launch from North Korea” at approximately 1:30 p.m. EST. He said the Pentagon is assessing the situation and has no further information to provide, including what kind of missile may have been launched.

It would be the first North Korean missile test since it launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Sept. 15 that flew over northern Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a tweet that President Donald Trump “was briefed, while missile was still in the air, on the situation in North Korea.”

At the time of the launch, Trump was in a meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.