- North Korea fires intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan
- Japanese residents urged to take shelter
- Donald Trump briefed on launch
- South Korea holds military drill in response
- How war with North Korea could start and what it would look like
- What does North Korea's Kim Jong-un hope to achieve?
South Korea's military says North Korea fired an unidentified missile from its capital Pyongyang in a continuation of weapons tests following its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date on September 3.
The missile flew over Japan and splashed down in the Pacific about 2,000km to the east off Hokkaido, according to Japanese media.
Japanese residents received alerts warning them to take shelter.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missile was launched from Sunan, the site of Pyongyang's international airport.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries are analysing details of the launch, the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The North last month used the airport to fire a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that flew over northern Japan in what it declared as a "meaningful prelude" to containing the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and the start of more ballistic missile launches targeting the Pacific Ocean.
More to come.
Pressure on China
In confronting North Korea’s latest provocation, the focus will almost certainly shift once again to Beijing, China Correspondent Neil Connor says.
Donald Trump has warned that the United States would cease trading with any country that trades with North Korea – comments which were met with concern in China. And in London only hours before Pyongyang fired its latest projectile, the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson urged China to use its supply of oil to North Korea as leverage against the regime.
"That is a very powerful tool and it has been used in the past," Tillerson said at a news conference. "We hope China will not reject that."
In 2003, China shut down its oil pipeline to North Korea for three days after a missile launch. Officials said it was due to a mechanical failure, although it was thought to be deliberate and ultimately helped force a climb-down from Pyongyang.
US believe it was an intermediate range ballistic missile
The US Pacific Command says initial assessment indicates the projectile was an intermediate range ballistic missile.
It said the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) determined this ballistic missile did not pose a threat to North America, nor Guam.
"Our commitment to the defence of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, remains ironclad. We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation.
North Korea tries to win more military space
South Korean experts said the August launch was Pyongyang's attempt to make missiles flying over Japan an accepted norm as it seeks to test new projectiles and win more military space in the region dominated by its enemies.
The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defence said the latest launch posed no immediate threat to Guam or the Marinas.
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