N. Korea conducts longest-ever ICBM test, condemned by Japan, US

This photo shows an intercontinental ballistic missile fired by North Korea on Oct. 31, 2024.

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Thursday, with the Japanese government saying the launch on a lofted trajectory marked the longest-ever flight time for a North Korean missile.

The Japanese Defence Ministry said the “ICBM-class” missile was launched northeastward from an area near Pyongyang at around 7:11 a.m. and fell at around 8:37 a.m. outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido’s Okushiri Island, with no damage to planes and ships reported.

“North Korea’s development of missiles and nuclear weapons threaten the peace and safety of our nation so they are totally unacceptable,” Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters, adding Japan will gather information by closely cooperating with the United States and South Korea.

The missile, which logged a flight time of 86 minutes and travelled a distance of about 1,000 kilometres with a record altitude of over 7,000 km, is possibly “a new type,” Nakatani said.

After the Japanese government convened a meeting of the National Security Council, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that the missile appeared to have been launched on a lofted trajectory.

North Korea often fires missiles on such steep vertical paths, apparently to test their capabilities while avoiding other countries.

Hayashi, Japan’s top government spokesman, described the latest missile test as “an outrageous act that would escalate tensions with the entire global community,” adding North Korea could engage in “further provocative acts including a nuclear test.

“Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters that Tokyo has lodged a stern protest with Pyongyang over the missile launch.

The United States said North Korea conducted an ICBM test and that it “strongly condemns” the move, which took place less than a week before the U.S. presidential election.

While there was no immediate threat to the United States or its allies, the White House said in a statement that the launch is a “flagrant violation” of multiple U.N. resolutions and “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.

“It said the United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of its homeland, as well that of Japan and South Korea.

The South Korean government also described the missile as an ICBM.North Korea last launched a ballistic missile on Sept. 18 and an ICBM on Dec. 18, when it tested the new solid-fuel Hwasong-18.

Speculation had been growing that North Korea could fire a ballistic missile or conduct its seventh nuclear test before or after the U.S. presidential election next Tuesday.

South Korean lawmakers said Wednesday that Pyongyang could launch an ICBM in November and it had completed preparations for a nuclear test at its Punggye-ri site for a possible test the same month, after being briefed by the country’s Defence Ministry.

The Punggye-ri site is where North Korea has conducted all six of its nuclear weapons tests to date, beginning in 2006, including the most powerful one in September 2017.

Pyongyang was also recently accused by Seoul and Washington of dispatching troops to support Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, fuelling fears that the North could obtain military and nuclear technologies from Moscow in return, as well as battle experience.