SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has test-fired another short-range missile and warned it would take "self-defence" action if provoked by the UN Security Council.
A South Korean official said the North fired the missile today from its Musudan-ni launch site on the east coast.
It is the sixth short-range missile North Korea has test-fired since Monday's nuclear test.
The Security Council is considering tough sanctions against North Korea for conducting the nuclear test.
North Korea warned it would retaliate if provoked. A statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency also accused the Security Council of hypocrisy.
"There is a limit to our patience," the statement said.
The North has been strident since its test -- which it has also called a self-defensive measure. It did not specify what further action it was considering in response to UN resolutions, or what it would consider a provocation.
Fears have increased of military skirmishes, particularly in disputed waters off the western coast, after North Korea conducted the nuclear test and then renounced the truce that has kept peace between the Koreas since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The waters were the site of two deadly clashes in 1999 and 2002.
From Yeonpyeong, the South Korean island closest to North Korea, about a dozen Chinese ships could be seen pulling out of port in the North and heading elsewhere. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that more than 280 Chinese vessels were fishing in the area earlier this week, but the number has dropped to about 140.
It was not clear if the Chinese vessels, in the area for the crabbing season, were told by the North to leave or if they were leaving on their own for fear of clashes at sea.
