TOKYO (Kyodo) -- North Korea launched what could be a ballistic missile and it appears to have already fallen, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Tuesday, in a move that came just ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

The launch, which the South Korean military also confirmed, followed Pyongyang's recent test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan that marked the longest-ever flight time for one of the country's missiles.

The ICBM fired Thursday, which North Korea said was a Hwasong-19 and the "ultimate version" of an ICBM, flew a distance of over 1,000 kilometers for nearly 86 minutes, according to its state-run media. It fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.