Ronery guy fires ICBM into Japanese airspace right before joint exercises start

The launch, Pyongyang’s first in seven weeks, comes days before Seoul and Washington are due to start joint tabletop exercises aimed at improving their response in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.

Japan said North Korea “fired one ICBM-class ballistic missile” which flew for some 66 minutes before landing in the country’s exclusive economic zone, chief government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Tokyo’s defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile could have had the capacity to fly 14,000 km (8,700 miles) — which would mean it was capable of hitting anywhere on the mainland United States.

Seoul’s military told AFP it had detected the launch of an ICBM, which was fired on a lofted trajectory — up instead of out, typically done to avoid overflying neighbouring countries — and flew some 900 kilometres (560 miles).

“Detailed specifications are being closely analysed by South Korea-US intelligence authorities,” it added in a statement.