The South Korean general staff “believes that North Korea has launched an ICBM”, a defense official told AFP, without further details. A little earlier, the southern army had indicated that it had detected “the launch of an unidentified ballistic missile in the direction of the east”.

Japan also confirmed the launch, calling it “absolutely unacceptable”, according to its Prime Minister. He warned that the ICBM could fall into its maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Japanese side guards have asked ships crossing the area not to approach any debris that may be floating in the sea.

On November 3, North Korea had already launched an ICBM but that launch had apparently failed, according to Seoul and Tokyo. The country had broken last March a moratorium that it had imposed on itself in 2017 on the launches of this type of long-range missile.

North Korea had already fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday, hours after a warning from its foreign minister who had promised a “fierce” response to the strengthening of the security alliance between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington .

The United States, South Korea and Japan have intensified their joint military maneuvers in recent months in the face of threats from North Korea, which sees these exercises as dress rehearsals for an invasion of its territory or a reversal of its regime.

During a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, US President Joe Biden tried to convince his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to intercede with North Korea so that it gives up carrying out a nuclear test, as Washington and Seoul lend him the intention.

Mr Biden, his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also promised a “strong and firm” response on Sunday if Pyongyang carries out this test, which would be the first since 2017 and the seventh in his history.

On Thursday, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui condemned the leaders’ meetings, saying they are “entering the situation on the Korean peninsula into an unpredictable phase”.

– “Fierce” response –

The more Washington tries to strengthen its security alliance with Tokyo and Seoul, “the fiercer the DPRK’s military response will be,” Choe said, using the sign of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the name North Korean official.

North Korea carried out an unprecedented flurry of projectile launches in early November, including that of a ballistic missile that fell near South Korea’s territorial waters. President Yoon denounced a “de facto territorial invasion”.

November 2 alone saw 23 North Korean missile launches, more than all of 2017, when leader Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald Trump traded threats of nuclear war.

In September and October, Pyongyang had already carried out a copious series of firings, including that of a medium-range ballistic missile which, on October 4, had flown over Japan for the first time in five years.

The latest rounds of launches have been accompanied by artillery barrages near the inter-Korean demarcation line and wide-ranging aerial sorties in North Korean skies.

Pyongyang justified its actions in November by the “aggressive and provocative” attitude of Seoul and Washington, which at the same time were conducting the largest air maneuvers ever carried out between them, including stealth planes and strategic bombers.

Analysts say North Korea, which under UN resolutions is barred from launching ballistic missiles, has become emboldened by the likelihood of escaping any further UN sanctions due divisions in the Security Council.

China, Pyongyang’s main diplomatic and economic ally, joined Russia last May in vetoing a US attempt to tighten sanctions against North Korea.