TOKYO — A missile fired on Friday (Nov 18) by North Korea had sufficient range to reach the US mainland, and was capable of flying as far as 15,000km, Japan's defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said.

The projectile, in the class of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), reached an altitude of 6,000km, covering a range of 1,000km on a lofted trajectory, Hirokazu Matsuno, the chief cabinet secretary, had said earlier.

It landed about 200km west of Oshima-Oshima island in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.

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Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada speaks to reporters about North Korea's firing of ballistic missiles in Tokyo, Japan in this photo taken by Kyodo on Nov 3, 2022. 

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TOKYO — A missile fired on Friday (Nov 18) by North Korea had sufficient range to reach the US mainland, and was capable of flying as far as 15,000km, Japan's defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said. The projectile, in the class of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), reached an altitude of 6,000km, covering a range of 1,000km on a lofted trajectory, Hirokazu...

North Korea missile had the range to reach US mainland, Japan says