By Jack Kim and Kaori Kaneko

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea said on Thursday it had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, improving what it called “the world’s most powerful strategic weapon”, as Seoul warned Pyongyang could obtain Russia missile technology to help in the war in Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was on hand and said the test was a warning to enemies who threaten the country’s security, the official KCNA news agency reported.

“The test firing is an appropriate military action that fully meets the objective of informing rivals, who have intentionally aggravated the regional situation and recently posed a threat to the security of our Republic, of our willingness to respond” , Kim said. by KCNA.

The show of force comes amid a storm of international condemnation and growing concern over what the United States and others say is North Korea’s deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia, including 3,000 near the western front lines with Ukraine.

This launch was quickly condemned by South Korea, Japan and the United States.

A day earlier, Seoul had signaled signs that the North might launch an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, seeking to draw attention to its growing military prowess.

Shin Seung-ki, head of North Korean military research at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyzes, said the launch would likely be used to test the improved performance of an existing ICBM’s boosters – possibly with the aid from Russia.

“North Korea will want to continue to receive such assistance because it saves time and costs while improving performance and improving the stability of the weapons system,” he said.

Having come under pressure due to its engagement with Russia, “the intention could be to show that it will not give in to pressure, that it will respond forcefully with force, and also to seek some influence over the “U.S. presidential election,” Shin added.

NEW RECORDS

Thursday morning’s launch was the North’s longest ballistic missile test, with a flight time of 87 minutes, according to South Korea.

KCNA said the test set new records for missile capabilities.

The missile took off on a very high trajectory from an area near the northern capital and crashed about 200 km (125 miles) west of the Japanese island of Okushiri, off the coast of Hokkaido.

It reached an altitude of 7,000 km and traveled a distance of 1,000 km, the Japanese government said.

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

North Korea’s latest ICBM, named Hwasong-18, was tested in December last year. Fueled by solid fuel and fired from a road launch vehicle, it was also launched at a steeply high angle and flew for 73 minutes, translating to a potential range of 15,000 km (9,300 miles) on a normal trajectory. .

That’s a distance that puts anywhere in the continental United States within reach.

Pyongyang’s latest test came just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun met in Washington to condemn the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have directly acknowledged the deployment, but Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia questioned on Wednesday why its allies like North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. , while Western countries claim the right to help Kiev.

South Korea said the deployment posed a direct threat to its security because the North would gain valuable combat experience in a modern war and would likely be rewarded by Moscow with “technology transfers” in areas such as weapons. tactical nuclear weapons, ICBMs and missile submarines. and military reconnaissance satellites.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Joyce Lee in Seoul, Kaori Kaneko, Mariko Katsumura, Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo, Phil Stewart and Rami Ayyub in Washington; editing by Lincoln Feast.)