North Korea on Monday launched another long-range ballistic missile with the potential to hit the entire United States, officials in Seoul and Tokyo said, adding to a record number of weapons tests this year that have been condemned by the West.

The firing followed the test of a shorter-range missile on Sunday evening, and the back-to-back launches followed another episode of fearsome rhetoric between North Korea and its allies the United States and South Korea.

The South Korean military said it had detected on Monday the launch of a long-range ballistic missile from the Pyongyang area, which flew about 1,000 kilometers before landing in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of ​​Japan.

Seoul said the missile flew upwards instead of across, a method Pyongyang previously said it was using in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighboring countries.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said it was an ICBM-class missile with a potential range covering the entire United States.

“The ICBM-class ballistic missile launched this time could have a flight range of more than 15,000 kilometers if calculated based on the trajectory, depending on the weight of the warhead,” said Shingo Miyake, Parliamentary Deputy -Minister of Defence.

“The entire American territory would be within his reach,” he noted.

The UN Security Council has passed numerous resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programs since the country conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described Monday’s launch as a “threat to peace and stability” and said it violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Similarly, the US State Department issued a statement condemning the test launch.

First tested in April, the Hwasong-18 is the first North Korean ICBM to use solid fuel, making it easier to transport and faster to launch compared to liquid-fueled versions.

South Korea’s spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said they were analyzing whether Monday’s launch was a solid-fuel ICBM.

The United States and South Korea held their second session of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Washington on Friday, discussing nuclear deterrence in the event of a conflict with North Korea.

On Saturday they warned that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang on the United States and South Korea would mean the end of the North Korean regime.

A spokesman for North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Sunday criticized allies’ plans to expand the annual joint military exercise with a nuclear operations exercise next year.

“This is an open statement on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” he said in a statement carried by news agency KCNA, which uses the official acronym for North Korea.

“Any attempt to deploy forces against the DPRK will be met with a pre-emptive and lethal response,” he added.

Sunday’s short-range missile launch came as Pyongyang commemorated the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, who died on December 17, 2011.

North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear program, which the regime considers essential to its survival.

And last month, Pyongyang successfully launched a military spy satellite into orbit. He has since claimed that his eye in the sky has already provided images of major US and South Korean military sites.

That launch broke a military agreement between the Koreas that was made to ease tensions on the peninsula.

Following the launch of the spy satellite, both sides have beefed up security along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates them. (JO)