A TV screen at Seoul Station displays news about North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Thursday. Yonhap

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea, Thursday, just hours after the defense ministers of both South Korea and the United States condemned Pyongyang's recent troop deployment to Russia.

The latest provocation marks the regime's first ICBM launch this year, occurring just days before the U.S. presidential election scheduled for Nov. 5.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the missile was launched at around 7:10 a.m. from an area near Pyongyang. Fired on a lofted trajectory, it flew approximately 1,000 kilometers before falling into waters off the east coast.

Seoul's National Security Council (NSC) strongly condemned the launch as "yet another violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that threaten the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community."

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the NSC to "strongly respond to North Korea's provocations jointly with the international community, and ensure thorough preparedness so that the North would be unable to plot any surprise provocations," according to the presidential office.

The JCS demanded that Pyongyang halt its illegal provocations, warning that "North Korea will bear full responsibility for any future consequences resulting from these actions."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it will impose fresh export sanctions on 15 items, such as thermal batteries and digital accelerometers, which can be used to advance North Korea's solid-fuel missile technologies.

This photo released by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency shows the launch of a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from an unspecified area in North Korea, Thursday. Yonhap

In its preliminary assessment, the South Korean military believes that Pyongyang likely test-launched a new long-range solid-fuel ballistic missile, which reached a higher altitude than the missile launched during the last test in December of 2023.

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun assessed that North Korea's atmospheric reentry technology for ICBMs appears to be near completion.

"Speaking of the ICBM, I believe the North's reentry technology is nearly complete," Kim told reporters during a press conference following a Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with his U.S. counterpart in Washington, Wednesday (local time).

North Korea has so far conducted ICBM test launches at steep trajectories, which result in projectiles falling within much shorter distances than their designed range. If launched at a standard angle, an ICBM could travel over 15,000 kilometers — enough to reach the U.S. mainland.

However, launching an ICBM at a standard trajectory requires more advanced technology to ensure the warhead can withstand extreme heat and other challenges involved in reentering the Earth's atmosphere from space. This has been considered one of the few remaining technological hurdles that the reclusive regime needs to overcome to enhance its missile capabilities.

Kim noted that it would be a matter of time before North Korea achieves this capability. He added that any alleged technological support from Russia — given in return for troop deployments in the war against Ukraine — would not significantly impact North Korea's progress.

"It is true that Russia has advanced science and technology, but they aren't necessarily superior to what we have in South Korea or the U.S.," the minister said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun speak during a press conference following their annual Security Consultative Meeting in Washington, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense

"Even if Russia does provide advanced weapons technology to North Korea, this won't be something beyond our capacity to respond to. The severity of the North Korea-Russia military cooperation should not be underestimated, but it should not be overestimated either."

Later in the day, North Korea confirmed the ICBM test launch, describing it as a "very crucial test that demonstrated the credibility of the world's most powerful strategic deterrent."

"The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our republic recently," a spokesman for North Korea's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

This was an unusually swift confirmation of the missile launch, given that the secretive regime typically reports missile tests in its publication the following day.

"I affirm that the DPRK will never change its line of bolstering its nuclear forces," the regime's leader Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying in the statement. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Thursday's missile launch came just hours after the defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. sat down for talks.

In a joint statement, Kim and his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin condemned in the harshest terms the expansion of military cooperation between North Korea and Russia from arms transfers to the actual deployment of forces.

South Korea's intelligence agency said Wednesday that North Korean troops sent to Russia are expected to be deployed to Ukrainian battlefields sooner than anticipated, with several foreign media outlets indicating that a small number of North Korean soldiers may already be in Ukraine.

According to Seoul's defense ministry, a team of South Korean observers will soon visit Ukraine to analyze and monitor the activities of North Korean troops on the battlefield. But the ministry said it is not considering the possibility of sending troops to support Ukraine.