North Korea test-fired possibly its biggest-yet intercontinental ballistic missile toward the sea Thursday, according to its neighbours, raising the ante in a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States and other rivals to accept it as a nuclear power and remove crippling sanctions.
The launch, which extended North Korea's barrage of weapons tests this year, came after the US and South Korean militaries said the country was preparing a flight of a new large ICBM it first unveiled in October 2020.
South Korea's military responded with live-fire drills of its own missiles launched from land vehicles, a ship and aircraft.
It said it confirmed readiness to execute precision strikes against North Korea's missile launch points as well as its command and support facilities. The South's reaction underscored a resumption of inter-Korean tensions as nuclear negotiations remain frozen.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Ministry said the ICBM missile fired from the Sunan area near capital Pyongyang travelled 1,080 kilometers while reaching a maximum altitude of over 6,200 kilometers.
This indicated the missile was fired on a higher-than-usual angle to avoid reaching the territorial waters of Japan.
Japan's Deputy Defense Minister Makoto Oniki also said the flight details suggested a new type of ICBM.
After arriving in Belgium for the Group of Seven summit meetings, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters the missile possibly landed near Japanese territorial waters off the northern island of Hokkaido.
"It's an unforgivable recklessness. We resolutely condemn the act," Kishida said.
Tokyo's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the missile flew for 71 minutes and that Japan may search for debris inside its exclusive economic zone to analyse the North's weapons technology.
Japan's coast guard issued a warning to vessels in nearby waters, but there were no immediate reports of damage to boats or aircraft.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting where he criticised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for breaking a self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests and posing a "serious threat" to the region and the broader international community.
Moon instructed officials to pursue "all possible response measures" based on its alliance with the United States and cooperation with other international partners, hisoffice said.