SEOUL — North Korea launched what South Korea referred to as an intercontinental ballistic missile off its east coast on Saturday, a day after vowing to take “unprecedentedly persistent and robust” counteractions in opposition to the joint navy drills that america and South Korea plan for this spring.

The launch was the North’s first missile check since New Yr’s Day, when it fired a short-range ballistic missile, and its first ICBM check since Nov. 18, when it fired the Hwasong-17, the North’s strongest long-range missile.

On Sunday, North Korea’s state media stated that​ the nation had examined its Hwasong-15 ICBM on Saturday​ ​to exhibit its skill to launch a “deadly nuclear counterattack​.” The North first examined the Hwasong-15 in 2017​.

To date, all the North’s ICBMs have been launched at a intentionally steep angle, in order that they fly excessive into house relatively than over Japan towards the Pacific. However flight knowledge from the Hwasong-17 check indicated that if launched at a standard angle, the missile theoretically may attain america.

The South Korean navy stated that the latest ICBM was launched on Saturday from close to the worldwide airport in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew about 560 miles to the east. As a result of this missile, like earlier ones, was fired at a lofted angle, it fell into waters west of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, in keeping with each Japanese and South Korean officers.

Japan’s protection minister, Yasukazu Hamada, advised reporters that the North Korean missile had reached an altitude of roughly 3,540 miles. If fired at a standard ICBM trajectory, the missile may have traveled about 8,700 miles, sufficient to achieve anyplace in all the continental United States, he stated.

The workplaces of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan every referred to as a gathering of their nation’s Nationwide Safety Council to debate the state of affairs.

“It’s deplorable that North Korea persists in nuclear and missile growth whereas its individuals are dying of starvation amid extreme meals shortages,” Mr. Yoon’s workplace stated in an announcement. “By its provocations, the North will achieve nothing however harsh worldwide sanctions.”

North Korea launched at the least 95 ballistic and different missiles in 2022 — greater than in any earlier 12 months — as its chief, Kim Jong-un, doubled down on increasing its nuclear arsenal after the collapse of negotiations with Donald J. Trump, then the U.S. president, in 2019. The nation examined a number of ICBMs final 12 months, in keeping with South Korean officers, though it referred to as solely two of them ICBMs.

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile on New Yr’s Day, an indication it might persist in weapons growth this 12 months. On the identical day, its state media introduced that Mr. Kim had ordered an “exponential improve” within the North’s nuclear arsenal, calling on his navy to “mass-produce” short-range nuclear missiles aimed toward South Korea, which he referred to as his nation’s “undoubted enemy.”

On Saturday, South Korea condemned the launch as a “clear violation” of U.N. Safety Council resolutions that ban the nation from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear gadgets.

North Korea has defied them as Washington’s rising tensions with Russia and China left the Safety Council cut up, making certain that no new U.N. sanctions shall be imposed for the navy provocations.

With North Korea persevering with its nuclear and missile brinkmanship, Washington and Seoul agreed to develop their annual navy workouts this 12 months to strengthen their mixed deterrence in opposition to the North.

One such train, a tabletop drill, is scheduled for Wednesday on the Pentagon. Afterward, delegates from either side are to go to an American naval base with nuclear submarines, as Washington seeks to reassure South Korea of its intention to defend it utilizing all means, together with nuclear, underneath the so-called prolonged deterrence doctrine. The allies are additionally scheduled to carry a big mixed area train in South Korea in mid-March.

North Korea denounces such drills as a rehearsal for invasion, and its Overseas Ministry warned on Friday that the joint drills would plunge the Korean Peninsula right into a “grave vortex of escalating pressure.” Saturday’s ICBM launch seemed to be a success of this menace.

North Korea’s newest missile check additionally drew consideration from analysts as a result of it happened because the nation is growing a brand new solid-fuel ICBM. Strong-fuel missiles are simpler to launch and tougher to identify. In recent times, the nation has examined a sequence of short-range, solid-fuel ballistic missiles aimed toward South Korea, and Mr. Kim needs so as to add a solid-fuel ICBM to his rising nuclear arsenal.

All three varieties of ICBMs that North Korea has examined to date have relied on liquid propellants. In December, the nation examined a strong new rocket engine that it stated could possibly be used to propel a solid-fuel ICBM. After that check, Mr. Kim urged his engineers to construct a brand new, solid-fuel ICBM “within the shortest span of time.” Throughout a navy parade on Feb. 8, North Korea unveiled what analysts stated was a brand new, solid-fuel ICBM that had by no means been examined earlier than.

“North Korean missile firings are sometimes exams of applied sciences underneath growth, and will probably be notable if Pyongyang claims progress with a long-range solid-fuel missile,” stated Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of worldwide research at Ewha Womans College in Seoul.

Thursday was the birthday of Kim Jong-il, Mr. Kim’s father, who dominated earlier than him and died in 2011. The North celebrates that birthday as a serious vacation — typically with main weapons exams. Mr. Kim’s rising nuclear arsenal is the most important achievement he can current to his long-suffering nation of 25 million individuals to justify his household’s dynastic rule.

Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo.