The missile was fired just before 6 a.m. in Japan. The launch set off warnings in the northern part of the country urging people to seek shelter.
It flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido, and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) off the Japanese coast.
The missile was in flight for about 14 minutes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at an emergency press conference. "There is no immediate report of the fallen objects and no damage to the ships and aircraft," he added.
Pentagon spokesman US Army Col. Rob Manning said the launch did not pose an immediate threat to North America.
Abe told reporters he had a 40-minute phone call with US President Donald Trump to discuss the missile launch. The two countries have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council, according to Japan's ambassador to the UN, Koro Bessho.
"The international community has to put more pressure on North Korea," Ambassador Bessho said.
The missile was launched near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, which is rare.
CNN's Will Ripley, who is on the ground in Pyongyang, said the news had not been broadcast to people inside North Korea as of 9:45 a.m. local time.
South Korea responded by conducting a bombing drill at 9:30 a.m. local time to test its "capability to destroy the North Korean leadership" in cases of emergency, an official with the country's Defense Ministry told CNN.
Yoon Young-chan, the head of South Korea's Presidential Office Public Affairs Office, told reporters that Ffur F-15K fighter jets dropped eight one-ton MK-84 bombs at a shooting range.
The operation was meant "to showcase a strong punishment capability against the North," he said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/28/politics/north-korea-launch-unidentified-projectile/index.html