WASHINGTON: North Korea fired a missile that landed close to Japan late on Tuesday night, the first test by Pyongyang since a missile fired over its neighbour in mid-September and the Pentagon said its initial assessment was that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea launched the missile a week after President Donald Trump put the country back on a US list of countries that Washington says support terrorism. The designation allows the United States to impose more sanctions, although some experts said it risked inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The Pentagon said in its initial assessment that the missile was an ICBM launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and travelled about 1,000km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. It added that the missile did not pose a threat to the United States, its territories or allies.

Japan’s government estimated that the missile flew for about 50 minutes and landed in the sea in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese broadcaster NHK said.

An Aug 29 missile fired by North Korea that flew over Japan was airborne for 14 minutes.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile was fired from Pyongsong, a city in South Pyongan province, at around 1817 GMT over the sea between South Korea and Japan.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2017