N Korea fired 'long-range' ballistic missile - S Korea

North Korea conducted what appeared to be its longest ever intercontinental ballistic missile test as South Korea warned the state could seek missile technology from Russia in exchange for deploying troops to help with the war in Ukraine.

The missile was launched on a sharply lofted trajectory from an area near the North's capital and splashed down about 300 km west of Japan's Hokkaido, recording the North's longest ever ICBM flight time.

The muscle-flexing came a day after South Korea reported signs the North may test-launch an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test around the US presidential election, seeking to draw attention to its growing military prowess.

The launch drew swift condemnation from South Korea, Japan and the US, coming amid rising international alarm over North Korea reportedly dispatching thousands of troops to Russia to support its war in Ukraine.

"It is believed the North Korea ballistic missile is a long-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

According to South Korea and Japan, the missile recorded a flight-time of 87 minutes, longer than the last ICBM test launch in December 2023 which clocked at 73 minutes.

The trajectory reached an altitude of 7,000 km and flew a distance of 1,000 km, the Japanese government said, calling it an ICBM-class missile.

The so-called lofted trajectory of a projectile flying at a sharply raised angle is intended to test its thrust and stability over much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific.

The last ICBM tested in December last year, dubbed theHwasong-18, fuelled by solid-propellant and fired from a road launcher, was also launched at a sharply raised angle and gave a flight time that could translate to a potential range of 15,000km on a normal trajectory.

That is a distance that puts anywhere in the mainland United States within range.

North Korea-Russia military co-operation

The launch followed a storm of international condemnation over what the US and others say is North Korea's deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia and 3,000 of them close to the western front lines with Ukraine.

Neither Russia or North Korea have directly acknowledged the deployment, but Russia's UN

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia questioned why its allies like North Korea could not help Russia in its war against Ukraine given Western countries claim the right to help Ukraine.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun condemned the troop deployment at a meeting in Washington, hours before the North Korean missile launch.