(Bloomberg) -- North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile toward waters off its east coast in a defiant show of force after criticizing the US and South Korea for holding talks on containing Pyongyang’s atomic ambitions.

The missile was fired from an area near Pyongyang on Monday, flying about 6,000 kilometers (3,730 miles) into space before splashing down more than 70 minutes later west of Japan’s main northern island of Hokkaido at about 9:37 a.m. local time, according to data from Japanese and South Korean authorities.

The launch represents North Korea’s fifth ICBM test this year. The class of missile is the most powerful in its arsenal and designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. Pyongyang usually releases images of its ICBM launches several hours afterward, giving analysts in the outside world a chance to evaluate the isolated state’s latest weaponry.

The launches coincided with talks between the US and South Korea on deepening cooperation in deterring Kim Jong Un from using atomic weapons. The US sent the nuclear-powered USS Missouri attack submarine to the South Korean port of Busan over the weekend, its latest dispatch of military assets to the region as a part of its deterrence policy.

Before the talks, a top South Korean security official warned that North Korea could soon test an ICBM. 

On Sunday night, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that flew 570 kilometers before falling into waters off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. 

North Korea slammed the meeting of the so-called Nuclear Consultative Group, with a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense saying the discussion was “an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli in case of emergency,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. 

North Korea is ready to launch a “a preemptive and deadly counteraction,” KCNA quoted the spokesman, which it didn’t name, as saying. 

Japan protested the launch and South Korea held an emergency meeting of its National Security Council. President Yoon Suk Yeol attended the meeting and pledged to “counter immediately and overpoweringly any provocation by North Korea” against South Korea’s territory and people, his office said.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan condemned the launch as a violation of United National Security Council resolutions, the White House said in a statement. He also spoke with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea after the launch to reaffirm Washington’s “unwavering commitment to the defense” of its allies. 

Kim is poised to hold a major policy-setting meeting at the end of the year. By testing ballistic missiles, he can show his top cadres and people the country’s nuclear arsenal is making great strides in being able to attack the US, reinforcing the propaganda message that its expansion is essential to prevent a US invasion.

The latest launches come after North Korea placed a satellite into orbit in late November, moving Kim closer to his key policy goal of deploying an array of reconnaissance probes to keep an eye on US forces in the region. 

Pyongyang has now fired 30 ballistic missiles and three space rockets so far this year. Last year, Kim’s regime launched more than 70 ballistic missiles, a record for the state. 

The last time North Korea tested an ICBM was in July when it fired off its new solid-fuel Hwasong-18, which at that point had the longest flight time for any of the nation’s ballistic missiles. The missile appeared designed to carry a multiple nuclear weapons payload, which increases the chances at least one bomb could slip past interceptors and make its way to a target.

Read: North Korea’s New ICBM Raises Ability To Strike US With Nuke

Solid-fuel missiles have the propellants baked into rockets, allowing them to be rolled out and fired in minutes, giving the US less time to prepare for interception. The challenge becomes even greater if the missile carries several warheads rather than one.

Still, it’s unclear whether the warheads aboard North Korea’s ICBMs could evade interception and survive reentry into the atmosphere to reach their targets.

Kim has ignored US calls to return to long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks through which Pyongyang could secure economic aid in exchange for disarmament. He has stayed busy modernizing his arsenal of missiles and conducting tests of systems to attack South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of US military personnel in the region.

--With assistance from Ryotaro Nakamaru, Takashi Hirokawa and Seyoon Kim.

(Updates with comments and details on missile starting in second paragraph.)

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