The Kim Jong Un regime opted to show defiance rather than restraint in its first weapons launch since the U.S. election.

North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul amid a political crisis in the country.

North Korea test fires a ballistic missile as Blinken visits Seoul, where he warned that Putin could provide Kim Jong Un with advanced space technology.

Launch comes ahead of Trump's scheduled inauguration, during Blinken's visit to Seoul North Korea fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea around noon, marking its first missile provocation this year,