North Korea on Thursday launched a ballistic missile toward the sea as the UN Security Council met in New York over the country's recent firing of a missile over Japan for the first time in five years.

North Korea fired "an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea," also known as the Sea of Japan, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said, citing the South Korean military.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced the launch, which came just two days after the North's intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan.

Global condemnation has mounted over Pyongyang's likely longest-ever test, which the South Korean and US militaries responded to on Wednesday with a volley of missiles into the sea.

South Korea's military also announced on Wednesday that the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier would return to the area, having already conducted joint drills with Seoul's navy last month.

Pyongyang's Tuesday launch is part of a record year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by the isolated regime, which recently revised its nuclear laws, with leader Kim Jong-un declaring his country an "irreversible" nuclear power.

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decried the launch over Japan "in the strongest terms" while South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called it a "provocation".

North Korean state news agency KCNA condemned the United States and allies for calling the UN Security Council meeting. (AFP)