NoKor Launches ICBM After Threatening U.S.

North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile Wednesday, its neighbors said, two days after it threatened the US over what it said were spy plane incursions into its airspace, Stella Kim, Arata Yamamoto and Jennifer Jett reported for NBC News.

Photo Insert: The missile, which was launched at a lofted trajectory, was estimated to have traveled 620 miles and reached a maximum altitude of about 3,725 miles.

The South Korean military confirmed that North Korea had launched a long-range ballistic missile toward the east from the outskirts of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, around 10 a.m. Wednesday (9 p.m. Tuesday ET).

It said that surveillance had been strengthened and that it was maintaining military preparedness in close cooperation with the US.

Japanese government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said that while details were still being analyzed, the missile was estimated to have flown for 74 minutes before it fell into the Sea of Japan about 155 miles west of Okushiri Island in Hokkaido around 11:13 a.m.

The missile, which was launched at a lofted trajectory, was estimated to have traveled 620 miles and reached a maximum altitude of about 3,725 miles. Matsuno said that it landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and that there were no reports of damage in the area.

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