South Korea convened a session of the National Security Council on Wednesday after North Korea launched what appeared to be two Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles from its east coast earlier in the morning.

Chaired by National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin, the gathering included the defense, unification and foreign ministers, as well as the head of the National Intelligence Service, Seoul's spy agency.

During the meeting, the participants discussed various countermeasures in relation to the latest missile launch by North Korea amid the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations.

"North Korea will face stronger sanctions and pressures imposed by Seoul and the international community," the government said in a statement after the meeting.

The NSC also touched on the development of North Korea's missile technology, focusing on the fact that the second missile fired earlier in the day flew about 400 km.

The two latest launches came after Pyongyang fired off four Musudan missiles in April and May that all ended in failure.

At around 5:58 a.m., North Korea fired off what is presumed to be a Musudan missile from near Wonsan along the east coast, but the launch seems to have ended in failure, the JCS said, providing no further details. About two hours later at 8:05 a.m., the North launched another missile thought to be the same type of IRBM from the same area. (Yonhap)