SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean defense officials said on Monday that the missile the North launched on Sunday was a medium-range ballistic missile that cannot fly far enough to strike American military bases in Guam, as analysts had feared.

But the test of the ground-to-ground Pukguksong-2 missile appeared to have provided North Korea with meaningful data that it could use to advance its missile programs, they said.

The Pukguksong-2, first tested on Feb. 12, already represents key strides in the North’s missile technologies. The missile was fired on Sunday from a mobile launch vehicle. And unlike most North Korean missiles, it used solid fuel, rather than liquid.

These features mean that the missile can have its fuel already loaded before it is moved from a hiding place to a launching site and can be fired quickly, making it difficult for the North’s enemies to detect an attack.