North Korea fired a ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean peninsula on Saturday evening, according to reports from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missile was fired from a submarine at 6:30 p.m. local time, and flew around 19 miles. CNN.com reports: One U.S. official said Saturday the launch “was provocative but not a threat to the U.S. and the missile was fired away from South Korea and Japan.” But another U.S. official noted that after previous launch attempts by Pyongyang that didn’t appear to be successful, this one seems to have gone much better. “North Korea’s sub launch capability has gone from a joke to something very serious,” this official said. “The U.S. is watching this very closely.” Launching a missile from a submarine has always been a military priority for North Korea, CNN’s Barbara Starr reports, and if this test was successful, it would be a military victory for Pyongyang. But such a launch is in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the U.S. State Department said. “We have seen the reports that North Korea launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile from a submarine in the Sea of Japan,” State Department [...]