The missile was fired around 6:10 am local time on Thursday (5.40 p.m. Wednesday ET).
The US military cannot confirm exactly when the missile exploded, but that it "crashed shortly after it was launched," the official said.
The official, who was unnamed, added that further details were unavailable but that the military is in the process of investigating. It is the second ground-based Musudan launch that has failed in the last two weeks.
The previous attempt, which took place on the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, was tracked by the US but there was "no evidence the missile reached flight," a US official told CNN.
It also comes as an increasingly belligerent North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program in open defiance of international condemnation, including that of its closest regional ally, China.
Along with a purportedly successful nuclear test in January and a launch of what the North insisted was a rocket designed to put satellites in orbit, Pyongyang scored a "partial success" in recent days as it fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile over the weekend.