▲ North Korea's Missile Administration successfully conducts a test-fire of the Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5, a new tactical ballistic missile, equipped with a 4.5-ton warhead on Sept. 18, 2024, in this file photo provided by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
▲ North Korea fires a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Dec. 18, 2023, in this file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the following day, with its leader Kim Jong-un observing the launch. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) N Korea-missile launch

(2nd LD) N. Korea launches ICBM amid troop deployment to Russia

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; ADDS details throughout, byline, photo)

By Lee Minji and Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, hours after the defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States jointly condemned the North's troop deployment to Russia.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile, fired on a lofted trajectory, at about 7:10 a.m. from the North's Pyongyang area and said it flew about 1,000 kilometers before landing in the East Sea.

It was not immediately known how high the missile went up and whether the missile used solid fuel, with an in-depth analysis currently under way, the JCS said.

The launch came just hours after the defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. condemned North Korea's troop deployment to Russia with "one voice" in the "strongest" terms during the allies' annual defense talks at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The JCS condemned the launch as a major provocation threatening peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the international community and vowed to maintain a full readiness posture amid a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture against any provocation by the North.

"The defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. agreed to demonstrate the alliance's determination for a response by strongly carrying out various measures, such as combined drills involving the deployment of U.S. strategic assets," the JCS said.

North Korea's troop deployment to Russia has spawned concerns about an escalation of Moscow's protracted war in Ukraine. The U.S. said North Korea has so far sent around 10,000 troops to eastern Russia for training, with some of them having moved close to Russia's western region near the border with Ukraine.

Last week, the North's foreign ministry said that any reported dispatch of its troops to Russia, if true, aligns with international law, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow's military cooperation with Pyongyang is "our business," mentioning a bilateral treaty that includes a mutual defense clause.

Thursday's launch came 10 months after the North fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM on Dec. 18. Experts said it could have flown more than 15,000 km, long enough to strike any part of the continental U.S., had it been fired on a normal trajectory.

North Korea last fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Sept. 18.

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