AKIPRESS.COM - North Korea fired a missile that failed immediately after launch early on Thursday, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, hours after the two countries agreed to step up efforts to counter the North's nuclear and missile threats, Reuters reports.

The missile was believed to be an intermediate-range Musudan and was launched from the western city of Kusong, where the isolated state attempted but failed to launch the same type of missile on Saturday, the U.S. Strategic Command and South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The launch came shortly after the United States and South Korea agreed in Washington to bolster military and diplomatic efforts to counter the North's nuclear and missile programs, saying they posed a grave security threat.

The failed missile launch at 2200 GMT was the eighth attempt in seven months by the North to launch a weapon with a design range of 3,000 km (1,800 miles), the two militaries said.

"We strongly condemn the North's continued illegal acts of provocation," the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The U.S. Strategic Command and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they presumed the missile was a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, speaking before the failed missile launch, said North Korea was nearing the "final stage of nuclear weaponisation" and the allies would mobilize "all tools in the toolkit" to defend themselves.