North Korea may have test-fired five ballistic missiles, instead of four, into the East Sea on March 6, a news report said Friday, speculating that a fifth one ended in failure.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported on March 7 that four ballistic missiles were launched simultaneously the previous day.

NK News, a North Korea-focused US newswire service, said there might have been a fifth missile at the test launch based on an analysis of the images released by North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.

On the day of the test-firing, US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters: "There were four that landed. There may be a higher number of launches that we're not commenting on. But four landed and splashed" in the sea, according to NK News.

While the US, South Korea and Japanese military authorities confirmed the launch of four missiles, the possible presence of a fifth missile was almost completely removed from KCNA coverage, CNN reported the following day.

On Friday, Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said, "There were four missiles (fired last week), and the number was obtained from a joint analysis by Seoul and Washington."

In its latest provocations on March 6, Pyongyang fired four ballistic missiles in an apparent reaction to the ongoing military drills by Seoul and Washington.

The four Scud-ER missiles, the improved versions of short-range Scuds with a range of 500-700 kilometers, flew about 1,000 km and reached an altitude of 260 km before splashing into the sea near Japan. (Yonhap)