Both the South Korean and Japanese governments reported the firing, with officials in Tokyo saying the missile reached a height of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) with a range of 800 kilometers (497 miles).
"If the missile were fired at a normal apogee, its range would be up to 3,500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers, making it an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile and North Korea's longest test since 2017," Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told CNN Sunday.
An IRBM would be able to strike the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Sunday launch is Pyongyang's sixth ballistic missile launch in 2022 and seventh of missiles overall.
A Kim Jong -Un regime is ramping up its missile testing in 2022, and has said it will bolster its defenses against the United States and evaluate "restarting all temporally suspended activities," according to North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA.
Dempsey said Sunday's launch shows North Korea may be doing just that.
"Following their 2018 self-imposed moratorium on long range and nuclear testing, they have limited ballistic missiles tested to short range (SRBM) and medium range (MRBM)," Dempsey said. "Earlier this month [North Korea] stated they were going to re-examine restarting previously suspended activities."
The sense of all the recent tests is Kim "has a desire to test out his inventory" and doesn't care if the US sees it, the US official said.
Sunday's test may also be related to South Korea's schedule to hold military exercises, the official said.
On Thursday, North Korea fired what were presumed to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the seas off the nation's east coast.
Two days before that, it fired what were believed to be cruise missiles into the same waters.
On January 17, Pyongyang test-fired "tactical guided missiles," which are short-range ballistic missiles, KCNA said.
North Korea claimed to have successfully test-fired hypersonic missiles on January 5 and 11, and then what were presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles from a rail car on January 14.
Pyongyang is barred by international law from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
After the rail car test, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson admonished Washington for its posture against Pyongyang's weapons development. "If the US adopts such a confrontational stance, the DPRK will be forced to take stronger and certain reaction to it," the spokesman said, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In a recent statement carried by KCNA, a spokesperson defended North Korea's right to bolster its arms, saying its "recent development of new-type weapons was just part of its efforts for modernizing its national defense capability."
The tests come as Pyongyang struggles with food shortages due to a coronavirus blockade that has severely affected its economy.
At the end-of-year meeting, Mr Kim said the country was facing a "great life-and-death struggle", adding that increasing development and improving people's living standards were among this year's goals.
United Nations officials had earlier warned that vulnerable children and elderly people in North Korea were at risk of starvation.
However, Mr Panda said this was unlikely to deter North Korea from pursuing its weapons programme.
"[Mr] Kim has maintained his emphasis on self-reliance in national defence in recent years even as he has been open about economic difficulties in the country," Mr Panda said.
"For [Mr] Kim and the Workers' Party, sustaining these weapons programmes is a top national priority for both internal and external reasons."
The US has been calling for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, and Pyongyang's relationship with President Joe Biden's administration has so far been fraught with tension.
South Korea recently tested its first submarine-launched ballistic missile, which it said was needed as deterrence against North Korea's "provocations".
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