The launch marked the country's longest ever ballistic missile test, with a flight-time of 87 minutes, according to South Korea, while state media in the North gloated that it set new records for its missile capabilities.
Dictator Kim Jong Un attended the launch and said the test was a warning to enemies that have been threatening the country's security, KCNA state news agency said.
'The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our counteraction will,' Kim reportedly warned.
The launch drew swift condemnation from the United States, Japan and South Korea, with Seoul warning Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia for helping with the war in Ukraine.
The muscle-flexing comes amid a storm of international condemnation and rising alarm over what the US and others say is North Korea's deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia - 3,000 of them close to the western frontlines with Ukraine.
A day earlier, Seoul reported signs the North may test-launch an ICBM or conduct a seventh nuclear test around the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, seeking to draw attention to its growing military prowess.
Shin Seung-ki, head of research on North Korea's military at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch was likely to test improved booster performance of an existing ICBM - possibly with the help of Russia.
'North Korea will want to keep getting help like this, because it saves times and costs while improving performance and upgrading the stability of weapons system,' he said.
Having come under pressure over its engagement with Russia, 'the intention may be to show that it will not bow to pressure, that it will respond to strength with strength, and also to seek some influence on the US presidential election,' Shin added.
The launch early on Thursday saw the missile take off on a sharply lofted trajectory from an area near the North's capital, before it splashed down about 125 miles west of Japan's Okushiri island, off Hokkaido.
Pyongyang's latest test came just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun met in Washington to condemn the North Korean troop deployment in Russia.
Neither Moscow or Pyongyang have directly acknowledged the deployment, but Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday questioned why its allies like North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine given Western countries claim the right to help Kyiv.
The ghost of Sec State Dean Acheson. China fell to the communists on his watch and this man green lighted NK's attack on ROK by omitting South Korea and Taiwan from the US Far East defense perimeter.
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