North Korean Missile Has Potential Range To Cover All Of US: Japan

A missile test-fired by North Korea on Monday was an intercontinental ballistic missile class with a potential range covering all of the United States, Japan's defence ministry said.

"The ICBM-class ballistic missile launched this time, if calculated based on the trajectory, depending on the weight of the warhead, could have a flying range of over 15,000 kilometres (9,320 miles). In which case the whole of the US territory would be within the range," said Shingo Miyake, parliamentary vice-minister of defence.

The missile appears to have flown about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) with a maximum altitude of more than 6,000 kilometres (3,720 miles), he said.

It "is estimated to have flown for 73 minutes and at around 9:37 am (0037 GMT), fell in the Sea of Japan 250 kilometres northwest of Okushiri island, Hokkaido, outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, or EEZ," he said.

"Japan lodged a firm protest against the launch, this time through its embassy channel in Beijing, and strongly condemned it," Miyake added.

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