By Jack Kim and Kaori Kaneko

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

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was present and said the test was a warning to enemies threatening the country’s security, state news agency KCNA said.

“The test fire is an appropriate military action that fully fulfills the purpose of informing rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our will to counter,” Kim said. by KCNA.

The muscle flexing comes amid a storm of international condemnation and growing alarm over what the US and others say is North Korea’s deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia – 3,000 of them close to its western front with Ukraine.

The launch drew swift condemnation from South Korea, Japan and the United States.

A day earlier, Seoul reported signs that the North may test an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test around Tuesday’s US presidential election, seeking to draw attention to its growing military might.

Shin Seung-ki, head of North Korean military research at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, said the launch could test the improved performance of an existing ICBM – possibly with Russian help.

“North Korea will want to continue receiving such aid because it saves time and costs while improving performance and improving weapon system stability,” he said.

Having come under pressure over his engagement with Russia, “the intention may be to show that he will not bow to pressure, that he will respond to force with force, and also to seek some influence on the US presidential election Shin added.

NEW REGISTRATIONS

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

KCNA said the test set new records for its missile capabilities.

The missile took off on a highly elevated trajectory from an area near the northern capital and scattered about 200 km (125 miles) west of Japan’s Okushiri Island off Hokkaido.

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

The so-called high trajectory of a projectile flying at a steep high angle is intended to test its strength and stability at distances much shorter than its projected range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile that far in the Pacific. .

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

This is a distance that puts anywhere in the continental United States within range.

Pyongyang’s latest test came just hours after US 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 Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, asked on Wednesday why its allies such as North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, given that Western countries claim the right to help Kiev.

South Korea said the deployment was 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 tactical nuclear weapons, ICBMs, ballistic 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.)