North Korea ICBM had range to hit US mainland - Japan - BBC

North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic rocket (ICBM) with capable scope to deed the US mainland, Japan's defence curate says.

The rocket landed successful the oversea astir 210km (130 miles) westbound of Hokkaido.

The US has condemned the launch, portion South Korea has ordered stronger deterrence measures against the North.

On Thursday North Korean FM Choe Son Hui warned of a "fiercer" effect to immoderate accrued US subject presence.

It besides launched a abbreviated scope ballistic rocket the aforesaid day.

That followed Sunday's gathering betwixt South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, US President Joe Biden and Japan's PM Fumio Kishida successful Cambodia.

On Friday US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said Mr Biden had been briefed and the US would consult with partners.

North Korea has fired much than 50 missiles implicit the past 2 months, astir of them short-range. These long-range launches are rarer, and airs a nonstop menace to the US, arsenic the missiles are designed to transportation atomic warheads to anyplace connected the US mainland.

The latest suspected ICBM was fired astatine 10:15 section clip (02:15 GMT) from adjacent the North Korean superior Pyongyang, subject chiefs successful Seoul said.

It reached an altitude of 6,100km connected a lofted trajectory and travelled 1,000km (621 miles), reaching a velocity of Mach 22, South Korea's subject said.

A lofted trajectory means the rocket flies overmuch higher into abstraction but crossed a shorter region than it would if fired connected a mean trajectory.

But Japan's defence curate Yasukazu Hamada said the rocket had capable scope to scope the US.

"Based connected calculations taking the trajectory into account, the ballistic rocket this clip astir could person had a scope capableness of 15,000km, depending connected the value of its warhead, and if that's the case, it means the US mainland was wrong its range," helium said.

"We person told (Pyongyang) that we perfectly cannot tolerate specified actions," Mr Kishida told reporters successful Thailand.

North Korea's signifier implicit the past months has been to motorboat missiles successful effect to US subject enactment astir the Korean Peninsula.

It is processing a caller benignant of long-range missile, the Hwasong-17, which is larger than the ICBMs it has successfully tested successful the past.

Experts judge respective attempts to motorboat the Hwasong-17 person failed, and the North has not yet been capable to get it to alert its afloat course.

Earlier this period the North launched an ICBM but i failed mid-flight, according to the South Korean military.

Despite crippling sanctions, Pyongyang conducted six atomic tests betwixt 2006 and 2017 and is believed to beryllium readying a seventh.

It has besides continued to beforehand its subject capability.