State television claimed that Pyongyang had now achieved its mission of becoming a nuclear state.

The Hwasong-15 missile, which it said was its “most powerful”, was launched in darkness early on Wednesday.

It landed in Japanese waters but flew higher than any other missile the North has previously tested

State news agency KCNA said that the missile reached an altitude of 4,475km (2,780 miles) and flew 950km in 53 minutes.

The projectile, fired at a steep incline, did not fly over Japan as some have done in the past, and landed about 250km short of its northern coast, according to Japanese officials.

KCNA added that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who personally signed off on the launch, “declared with pride that now we have finally realised the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power”.

The report said that “as a responsible nuclear power and a peace-loving state”, North Korea would “make every possible effort to serve the noble purpose of defending peace and stability of the world”.

It said its weapons, meant as a defence against “the US imperialists’ nuclear blackmail policy”, would “not pose any threat to any country” as long as North Korean interests were not infringed upon.

“This is our solemn declaration.”

Could its missile really reach the US?

An analysis by the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists found that the missile could have travelled more than 13,000km if it was on a standard trajectory, thus reaching “any part of the continental United States”.

But it added it seemed likely that the missile had a very light mock warhead – which meant that it could be incapable of carrying a nuclear payload, which is much heavier, for that distance.

North Korea however claims that the Hwasong-15 could reach mainland US carrying a “super-large heavy warhead”.

How is the world reacting?

The test has prompted swift international condemnation. The UN Security Council is due to convene an emergency session to discuss the latest test.

The launch is just the latest in a series of weapons tests that have raised tensions to unprecedented levels. Pyongyang last launched a ballistic missile in September, the same month it conducted its sixth nuclear test.

North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and missile programme despite this global condemnation and sanctions.

Prior to North Korea’s statement, US defence secretary James Mattis said the missile launch “went higher, frankly, than any previous shots they have taken”, and said North Korea poses a worldwide threat.

US President Donald Trump was briefed while the missile was still in the air, the White House said. Afterwards he said: “We will take care of it.”

Japan and South Korea have condemned the test, with the South launching its own missile test in response.

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Source: BBC

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State media said Hwasong-12 rockets would pass over Japan and land in the sea about 30km (17 miles) from Guam, if the plan was approved by Kim Jong-un.

It denounced Donald Trump’s warnings of “fire and fury” and said the US leader was “bereft of reason”.

The US has warned the North its actions could mean the “end of its regime”.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Pyongyang would be “grossly overmatched” in any war against the US and its allies.

The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who is in Guam, says there is a sense that the North Korean threat is rhetorical, as most people feel that if they really did strike with missiles it would be suicidal for the North Korean regime.

What is the North planning?

The North first announced on Wednesday that it had been drawing up plans for a missile strike against Guam, a Pacific island which is home to US military bases, strategic bombers and about 163,000 people.

A later statement carried by state media said the military would “finally complete the plan” by mid-August and send it to leader Kim Jong-un for his approval.

“The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA [Korean People’s Army] will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi [Kochi] Prefectures of Japan,” state news agency KCNA said, quoting army chief General Kim Rak Gyom.

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“They will fly 3,356.7km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30-40km away from Guam.”

The Hwasong missiles are North Korea’s domestically produced medium and long-range weapons.

What has been the reaction in the region?

The governor of Guam addressed the North’s new statement on Thursday, telling Reuters news agency that North Korea usually likes to be unpredictable and has fired surprise missiles in the past.

“They’re now telegraphing their punch, which means they don’t want to have any misunderstandings. I think that’s a position of fear,” said Governor Eddie Calvo.

Meanwhile Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Pyongyang’s actions were “provocative to the region including Japan as well as to the security of the international community”.

“We can never tolerate this,” he added.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told MPs Japan could legally intercept a North Korean missile headed for Guam because such a move would threaten Japan’s existence as a nation.

Recent legislation also allows Japan to defend the US and other allies from attack. Previously Japan’s position was only to shoot down missiles headed for its own territory.

South Korea’s military said it was prepared for swift action.

“If North Korea conducts provocation in defiance of our military’s grave warning, it will confront the strong and firm response of our military and the US-South Korea alliance,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said.

What have the two sides been saying?

North Korean state media said President Trump’s remarks on Tuesday that the North risked “fire and fury” for threatening the US were “a load of nonsense”.

“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him,” it added.

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Amid escalating rhetoric, Mr Mattis issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday calling on Pyongyang to halt its arms programme.

“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he said.

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“While our state department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth.”

Mr Trump boasted about America’s atomic arsenal earlier on Wednesday.

Tweeting from New Jersey where he is on holiday, the president said the US nuclear stockpile was “more powerful than ever before”.

Should we be worried?

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has sought to reassure Americans that North Korea does not pose an imminent threat.

Speaking in Guam, where he was making a scheduled visit, he said he was hopeful a global “pressure campaign” involving Russia and China could lead to new dialogue with Pyongyang “about a different future”.

Mr Tillerson said the situation had not dramatically changed over the past few days, and that Americans “should sleep well at night”.

South Korea’s military says it has not seen any unusual action in the North that might indicate a provocation.

China has urged calm, describing the situation as “complex and sensitive”.

Despite rounds of UN sanctions, Pyongyang carried out two nuclear tests last year and two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.

Various reports recently have suggested the North has now achieved its goal of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles.

But this remains unconfirmed, and most analysts doubt the country would launch a pre-emptive attack on the US.

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Source: BBC

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Writing on Twitter, he said he would not allow China to “do nothing” about the reclusive state.

His comments came a day after Pyongyang test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a month.

It later claimed the test proved that the entire US was within striking range of its weaponry.

On Saturday, two US B-1 bombers conducted exercises over the Korean peninsula with South Korean and Japanese planes.

The move was a “direct response” to the North’s two ICBM launches, and “part of the continuing demonstration of ironclad US commitment to our allies”, the US Pacific Command said.

“North Korea remains the most urgent threat to regional stability,” Gen Terrence J O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, added in a statement.

On Saturday, China condemned the test launch and urged restraint on all sides.

But Mr Trump voiced frustration at Beijing’s response, linking the US trade deficit with China with policy on North Korea.

“I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk,” he wrote in two consecutive tweets.

“We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

China, which shares a land border with North Korea, is its closest economic ally and trading partner.

President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed North Korea during talks earlier this year, after which US officials said the two countries were working on “a range of options” to rein in Pyongyang.

But since then the North has carried out two ICBM tests.

After Saturday’s launch, South Korea said it was concerned the North may have made “a significant advancement in technology”, adding that the missile test was “unique in its time and place of launch”.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the threat to his country’s security was “grave and real”.

The North has repeatedly tested missiles in breach of UN resolutions.

ICBMs can reach altitudes well outside the earth’s atmosphere. Using sharp trajectories with high altitudes allows North Korea to avoid firing over neighbouring countries.

Despite the ongoing tests, experts believe the North does not yet have the capability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead, fit it on to a long-range missile, and ensure it is protected until delivery to the target.

Others, however, believe that at the rate it is going, Pyongyang may overcome these challenges and develop a nuclear weapon within five to 10 years that could strike the US.

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Source: BBC

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If they were to go ahead, they would be the first high-level talks since 2015.

A senior official said talks should aim to stop “all hostile activities that raise military tension” at the fortified border between the Koreas.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has long signalled he wants closer engagement with the North.

North Korea has not responded to the South’s proposal yet.

In a recent speech in Berlin, Mr Moon said dialogue with the North was more pressing than ever and called for a peace treaty to be signed.

He said such dialogue was crucial for those who seek the end of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

However, the North’s frequent missile tests, including the most recent one of an intercontinental ballistic missile, are in consistent violation of UN resolutions and have alarmed its neighbours and the US.

South Korea’s Vice Defence Minister Suh Choo-suk told a media briefing that talks could be held at Tongilgak, a North Korean building in the Panmunjom compound in the demilitarised zone between the two countries, which was used to host previous talks.

He proposed that the talks be held on 21 July, and said: “We expect a positive response from the North.”

South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon also urged the restoration of communication hotlines between the two Koreas, cut last year after a North Korean nuclear test.

The BBC’s Karen Allen in Seoul says the ultimate aim of these talks would be to end the military confrontation that has dominated relations between the two Koreas for decades.

But it could begin with confidence-building measures such as ending the infamous loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border, she says.

The Red Cross and the government have also proposed a separate meeting, aimed at discussing how to hold reunions of families separated by the Korean War, which ended in 1953.

But analysts say these could be highly fraught with Pyongyang still angry at the South’s unwillingness to repatriate high-profile defectors.

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Source: BBC

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The Scud flew about 450km (280 miles) before landing in Japanese waters, prompting Japan to lodge a protest.

Observers say the tests indicate the North is making progress towards missiles capable of carrying warheads.

The North has repeatedly defied a UN resolution banning all nuclear and missile activity, and has ramped up its tests in recent months.

The US Pacific Command said the missile was launched from Wonsan in North Korea and flew for about six minutes before landing.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the missile landed in an area between Japan’s Sado and Oki islands, in their exclusive economic zone.

A spokesman for South Korea’s military said the missile reached an altitude of 120km, and “an analysis is under way on the specific number” of missiles fired, indicating that more than one could have been launched.

The launch comes a day after North Korea’s state media reported the test of a new anti-aircraft weapon system, and released pictures of leader Kim Jong-un watching the test.

North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range Scud missiles developed by the Soviet Union. Modified versions of the Scud missiles can have a range of 1,000km.

The previous two launches were of medium to long range missiles, both of which the North claimed as “successful” tests.

The first of those launches was hailed by Pyongyang as a new type of rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead – it was a demonstration of the North’s longest-range nuclear-capable weapon yet.

Pyongyang has been testing its missiles at an unprecedented pace and experts believe it is steadily edging towards the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the mainland United States.

North Korea says its weapons programme is necessary to counter US aggression.

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Source: BBC

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