A suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea exploded in flight on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, a development that comes as North Korea is protesting the regional deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier for a trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan.

The missile launched from the North’s capital region around 5:30 a.m. was aimed toward the North’s eastern waters before the failure, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.