North Korea has fired what the US Pentagon says appears to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that landed close to Japan, Pyongyang's first test launch since sending a missile over its neighbour in mid-September.
North Korea fired the missile a week after US President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a US list of countries that Washington says support terrorism. The designation allows the United States to impose more sanctions, although some experts said it risked inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump said of North Korea's latest test missile: "It is a situation that we will handle."
Trump said the launch did not change his administration's approach to North Korea, which has included new curbs to hurt trade between China and North Korea, which it sees as important to deterring Pyongyang from its ambition to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Col Robert Manning said the Pentagon's initial assessment was that an ICBM was launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and traveled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. The missile did not pose a threat to the United States its territories or allies, the Pentagon said.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the ICBM went higher than any shot Pyongyang has taken.
Japan's government estimated that the missile flew for about 50 minutes and landed in the sea in Japan's exclusive economic zone, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. A North Korean missile on August 29 was airborne for 14 minutes over Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo was requesting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
"We can never accept this violence and have strongly protested to North Korea," Abe told reporters. He called on all countries to strictly implement sanctions against Pyongyang.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday's missile was fired from Pyongsong, a city in South Pyongan Province, at around 1817 GMT over the sea between South Korea and Japan. The South Korean military said the missile had an altitude of around 4,500 km and flew 960 km.
Minutes after the North fired the missile, South Korea's military conducted a missile-firing test in response, the South Korean military said.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported three projectiles were fired, the nearest landing 210 kilometres west of Japan's northern mainland, suggesting the missile broke into pieces.
Japan's Kyodo news agency, quoting the defense ministry, said there were no reports of any damage.
