North Korea Tests New Long Range Missile

North Korea has test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew longer and higher than the first.

Leading analysts said that a wide swathe of the US including Los Angeles and Chicago is now within range of Pyongyang's weapons.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late on Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes - about five minutes longer than the ICBM North Korea test-fired on July 4.

David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in Washington that if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of about 6,500 miles.

Bruce Klingner, a Korean and Japanese affairs specialist at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, said:

"It now appears that a significant portion of the continental United States is within range."

President Donald Trump has said he will not allow North Korea to obtain an ICBM that can deliver a nuclear warhead.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch a "serious and real threat" to the country's security.

Mr Abe said Japan would cooperate closely with the US, South Korea and other nations to step up pressure on North Korea to halt its missile programmes. Repeated rounds of sanctions from the UN Security Council, however, have yet to deter the North.

PICTURE: LIBRARY