The US and South Korea have agreed to the early deployment of a defence system designed to shoot down North Korean missiles, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The decision to activate the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system reportedly came during talks between the acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo Ahn and Mike Pence, as the US Vice President warned North Korea that the "era of strategic patience is over".
A failed North Korean missile test on Sunday, when an unidentified projectile exploded moments after being launched in an eastern port city, came in defiance of US President Donald Trump's demands for the country to wrap up its nuclear programme.