South Koreaon Monday denounced the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s test-launch of a ballistic missile as it violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that Pyongyang's test-firing of a ballistic missile was in clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and posed a serious threat to peace and stability in the world as well as in the Korean Peninsula.

The DPRK test-fired a ballistic missile from the vicinity of Wonsan off the DPRK's east coast, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It was believed to be of a Scud type, which has a range of 300-500 km.

The missile flew some 450 km into the DPRK's eastern waters. It was launched at about 5:39 a.m. local time (2039 GMT on Sunday).

The Monday missile launch marked the third provocation of the DPRK since the new South Korean administration was launched earlier this month. It also logged the DPRK's ninth missile test-firing this year.

The Seoul ministry said the DPRK's repeated provocations flew in the face of South Korea's call for peace and the denuclearization in the peninsula and defied the international community's concerted will for the denuclearization of the DPRK.

The ministry strongly denounced the missile launch, urging Pyongyang to immediately stop any provocations and rapidly come to the path to the denuclearization.

It said the South Korean government will never accept, and sternly deal with, any DPRK provocation, promising to defend people's safety and life by maintaining a full preparedness based on the firm South Korea-U.S. alliance.