North Korea fires ICBM as South Korea, Japan leaders meet at NATO

Passengers wait for their train in front of a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) off its east coast on Wednesday, prompting condemnation from the U.S. as well as the leaders of South Korea and Japan who met on the sidelines of a NATO summit.

The missile flew for 74 minutes to an altitude of 6,000 km (3,728 miles) and a range of 1,000 km, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said, in what would be the longest ever flight time for a North Korean missile.