This image made from video of a news bulletin aired by North Korea's KRT on Tuesday, July 4, 2017, shows what was said to be North Korea leader Kim Jung Un, center, watching the launch of a Hwasong-14... (Associated Press) 
 
 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday claimed it successfully test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, a potential game-changing development in what may be the world's most dangerous nuclear standoff and, if true, a direct rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump's earlier declaration that such a test "won't happen!" 
 
 In typically heated rhetoric, North Korea's Academy of Defense Science said the test of an ICBM — the Hwasong-14 — marked the "final step" in creating a "confident and powerful nuclear state that can strike anywhere on Earth." 
 
 Unless outsiders retrieve parts of the missile, it will be difficult to confirm many details. North Korea's weapons program is perhaps the most closely held state secret in one of the world's most suspicious nations. U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials earlier assessed that the North fired an intermediate-range missile into waters near Japan. 
 
 Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on whether Japan thinks it was an ICBM, and South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was analyzing whether the North's statement was accurate. 
 
 The launch appeared to be North Korea's most successful missile test yet. A U.S. scientist examining the height and distance said the missile could potentially be powerful enough to reach Alaska. 
 
 North Korea has previously launched satellites in what critics said were disguised tests of its long-range missile technology. A test-launch of an ICBM, however, would be a major step in developing nuclear-armed missiles that could reach anywhere in the United States. 
 
 The launch sends a political warning to Washington and its chief Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo, while also allowing North Korean scientists a chance to perfect their still-incomplete nuclear missile program. It came on the eve of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, days after the first face-to-face meeting of the leaders of South Korea and the United States, and ahead of a global summit of the world's richest economies. 
 
 Both outside and North Korean analyses of the missile's height, distance and time in the air were roughly similar. 
 
 U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials say it flew for about 40 minutes and reached an altitude of 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles), which would be longer and higher than any similar North Korean test previously reported. It also covered a distance of about 930 kilometers (580 miles). 
 
 North Korea said the missile flew as high as 2,802 kilometers before hitting a designated target in the ocean about 933 kilometers away from the launch site in the North's northwest. It said the missile flew for about 39 minutes and was made at the highest possible angle. 
 
 Before North Korea's announcement of an ICBM, South Korean analysts said it was likely that it was a retest of one of two intermediate-range missiles launched earlier this year. 
 
 One U.S. missile scientist, David Wright, estimated that the highly lofted missile, if the reported time and distance are correct, could have a possible maximum range of 6,700 kilometers (4,160 miles), which could put Alaska in its range, if fired at a normal trajectory. 
 
 North Korea has a reliable arsenal of shorter-range missiles and is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs, but is still trying to perfect its longer-range missiles. Some outside civilian experts believe the North has the technology to mount warheads on shorter-range Rodong and Scud missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan, two key U.S. allies where about 80,000 American troops are stationed. But it's unclear if it has mastered the technology needed to build an atomic bomb that can fit on a long-range missile. 
 
 Soon after the morning launch, President Trump responded on Twitter: "North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!" 
 
 "This guy" presumably refers to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. China is North Korea's economic lifeline and only major ally, and the Trump administration is pushing Beijing to do more to push the North toward disarmament. 
 
 After North Korea claimed earlier this year it was close to an ICBM test launch, Trump took to Twitter and said: "It won't happen!" 
 
 The missile test could invite a new round of international sanctions, but North Korea is already one of the most sanctioned countries on Earth. U.N. Security Council resolutions ban it from engaging in any ballistic activities. Since late 2012, North Korea has placed two satellites into orbit with long-range rockets, each time triggering new U.N. sanctions and worldwide condemnation. 
 
 Last year, North Korea conducted its fourth and fifth atomic bomb tests and claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its efforts to develop long-range nuclear missiles. The fifth nuclear test in September was the North's most powerful atomic detonation to date. 
 
 In their meeting last week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump vowed to oppose North Korea's development of atomic weapons. 
 
 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sharply criticized North Korea for the launch. "The latest launch clearly showed that the threat is growing," Abe said. 
 
 Abe, who talked by phone with Trump on Monday, said the two leaders plan to seek cooperation from world leaders when they attend a G-20 summit in Germany. 
 
 On May 14, North Korea launched a Hwasong-12 missile which its state media said flew as high as 2,111 kilometers (1,310 miles) and landed in a targeted area in the ocean about 787 kilometers (490 miles) from the launch site. On May 21, North Korea tested a Pukguksong-2, which traveled about 500 kilometers (310 miles). 
 
 The Korean Peninsula has been divided since before the 1950-53 Korean War. Almost 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. 
 
 Since taking office on May 10, Moon has tried to improve strained ties with North Korea, but the North has continued its missile tests. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons and powerful missiles to cope with what it calls rising U.S. military threats. 
 
 Since taking office after his dictator father Kim Jong Il's death in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has overseen three nuclear weapons tests and a slew of missile tests. Regional disarmament talks on North Korea's nuclear program have been deadlocked since 2009, when the North pulled out of the negotiations to protest international condemnation over a long-range rocket launch. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Korean state TV announces "successful" missile test 
 
 North Korea says it has successfully tested its first "intercontinental ballistic missile" (ICBM). 
 
 A state television announcement said the missile, which landed in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, could hit targets anywhere in the world. 
 
 But the US and Russia said the missile had a medium range and presented no threat to either country. 
 
 North Korea has increased the frequency of its missile tests, in defiance of a ban by the UN Security Council. 
 
 China and Russia called on Pyongyang to freeze its missile and nuclear activities. 
 
 The announcement on North Korea state television said the Hwasong-14 missile test was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un. 
 
 It said the projectile had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,731 miles) and flew 933km for 39 minutes before hitting a target in the sea. 
 
 North Korea, it said, was now "a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world". 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption North Korean state TV released photos of the purported ICBM test launch 
 
 It would enable the country to "put an end to the US nuclear war threat and blackmail" and defend the Korean peninsula, it said. 
 
 While Pyongyang appears to have made progress, experts believe North Korea does not have the capability to accurately hit a target with an ICBM, or miniaturise a nuclear warhead that can fit onto such a missile. 
 
 Other nuclear powers have also cast doubt on North Korea's assessment, with Russia saying the missile only reached an altitude of 535km and flew about 510km. 
 
 What is an ICBM? 
 
 A long-range missile usually designed to carry a nuclear warhead 
 
 The minimum range is 5,500km (3,400 miles), although most fly about 10,000km or more 
 
 Pyongyang has previously displayed two types of ICBMs: the KN-08, with a range of 11,500km, and the KN-14, with a range of 10,000km, but before 4 July had not claimed to have flight tested an ICBM. It is not clear what differentiates the Hwasong-14 
 
 How far could this missile travel? 
 
 The big question is what range it has, says the BBC's Steven Evans in Seoul. Could it hit the United States? 
 
 David Wright, a physicist with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, says that if the reports are correct, this missile could "reach a maximum range of roughly 6,700km on a standard trajectory". 
 
 That range would allow it to reach Alaska, but not the large islands of Hawaii or the other 48 US states, he says. 
 
 It is not just a missile that North Korea would need, our correspondent adds. It must also have the ability to protect a warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere, and it is not clear if North Korea can do that. 
 
 What does this test tell us? By defence expert Melissa Hanham 
 
 Once again North Korea has defied the odds and thumbed its nose at the world in a single missile launch. With the test of the Hwasong-14, it has shown that it can likely reach intercontinental ballistic missile ranges including putting Alaska at risk. 
 
 Kim Jong-un has long expressed his desire for such a test, and to have it on the 4 July holiday in the US is just the icing on his very large cake. 
 
 Despite this technical achievement, however, it is likely many outside North Korea will continue to be sceptical of North Korea's missile. They will ask for proof of working guidance, re-entry vehicle, and even a nuclear warhead. 
 
 From a technical perspective, though, their engines have demonstrated ICBM ranges, and this would be the first of several paths North Korea has to an ICBM with even greater range. 
 
 North Korea's missile programme 
 
 Are neighbours and nuclear powers concerned? 
 
 South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has called on the UN Security Council to take steps against North Korea. 
 
 Japan described "repeated provocations like this are absolutely unacceptable" and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country would "unite strongly" with the US and South Korea to put pressure on Pyongyang. 
 
 Russia and China said the launch was "unacceptable". 
 
 Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Moscow, where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
 
 The two leaders urged Pyongyang to suspend all its tests. They also asked the US and South Korea to not hold joint military exercises. 
 
 US President Donald Trump also responded swiftly on Tuesday. 
 
 On his Twitter account he made apparent reference to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying: "Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?" 
 
 "Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!" 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption North Korean state TV said the launch was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un 
 
 President Trump has repeatedly called on China, Pyongyang's closest economic ally, to pressure North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programmes. 
 
 On the prospect of North Korea being able to strike the US, he tweeted in January: "It won't happen". However experts say it might - within five years or less. 
 
 Beijing called for "restraint" following the latest test on Tuesday. 
 
 Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was opposed to North Korea going against clear UN Security Council resolutions on its missile launches. 
 
 Meanwhile, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK "stood alongside the US and our allies to confront the threat North Korea poses to international security". 
 
 Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning ||||| If claim of ICBM launch is confirmed, it could move regime closer to being able to strike US mainland 
 
 North Korea claims to have conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) , a development that, if confirmed, could move the regime closer to being able to strike the US mainland and dramatically strengthen its hand in negotiations with Washington. 
 
 South Korean and Japanese officials said they were studying the data to confirm whether or not it was an ICBM, but analysts said it appeared the missile had the range to strike Alaska but not other parts of the continental US. 
 
 Later there were reports in the US that officials believe North Korea may have fired its first intercontinental missile, though there was no official public statement from the US about this. 
 
 Why does the North Korean regime pursue a nuclear programme? Much of the regime’s domestic legitimacy rests on portraying the country as under constant threat from the US and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan. 
 
 To support the claim that it is in Washington’s crosshairs, North Korea cites the tens of thousands of US troops lined up along the southern side of the demilitarised zone – the heavily fortified border dividing the Korean peninsula. Faced with what it says are US provocations, North Korea says it has as much right as any other state to develop a nuclear deterrent. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is also aware of the fate of other dictators who lack nuclear weapons. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The launch, which came as Americans prepared to mark Independence Day, triggered a Twitter outburst from President Donald Trump who urged China to act to “end this nonsense once and for all”. 
 
 In a joint statement released after the missile test, Russia and China condemned the launch and proposed that North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests, while at the same time calling on Washington to immediately halt deployment of its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. 
 
 In a rare announcement on state North Korean television, an emotional newsreader said Kim Jong-un had personally overseen the “landmark” test of a Hwasong-14 missile. 
 
 North Korea was now a “a strong nuclear power state” and had “a very powerful ICBM that can strike any place in the world,” the newsreader said. 
 
 She added that the missile had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,741 miles) and flew 933km (580 miles) – longer and higher than any of the regime’s previous similar tests. Those figures roughly concurred with analysis by Japanese and South Korean officials. 
 
 Early indications were that the missile was a single-stage device. 
 
 
 
 But later, NBC News cited two unnamed US officials saying they now believed it was “two stage”, and CNN quoted one official saying it was a “probable” ICBM and that the ongoing assessment suggested a second-stage booster did ignite and produced additional flight for 30 seconds. 
 
 
 
 While the apparent advancement in North Korea’s missile technology will add to concerns that the regime is moving closer to developing the capacity to strike the US mainland, many analysts still doubt whether it can miniaturise a nuclear weapon sufficiently to fit it on to a missile. They also believe the regime is unlikely to have mastered the technology needed for an ICBM to survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 
 
 South Korea’s military confirmed that North Korea had fired an “unidentified ballistic missile” into the Sea of Japan – known in North Korea as the East Sea of Korea – from Banghyon in North Pyongan, a province near its border with China. 
 
 The timing of North Korea’s 11th launch this year – on the eve of the US Independence Day holiday and just before the start of the G20 summit in Hamburg – was significant. It came soon after Donald Trump met the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, in Washington, and held telephone discussions dominated by Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe. 
 
 The missile landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the South Korean military and Japanese government said. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest A screengrab from footage on North Korean TV purporting to show preparations for Tuesday’s missile test. Photograph: Korean state television 
 
 Tokyo strongly protested against what it called a clear violation of UN resolutions banning Pyongyang from developing ballistic missile technology. 
 
 North Korea's missile test: everything you need to know Read more 
 
 The US Pacific Command said it detected and tracked the “single launch of a land-based, intermediate-range ballistic missile” for 37 minutes near an airfield in Panghyon, about 60 miles north-west of Pyongyang - a flight time longer than any similar previous tests. 
 
 The joint statement from Russia and China, issued shortly after President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held wide-ranging talks in the Kremlin, called on North Korea, South Korea and the United States to sign up to a Chinese de-escalation plan designed to defuse tensions around Pyongyang’s missile programme. 
 
 The plan would see North Korea suspend its ballistic missile programme and the United States and South Korea simultaneously call a moratorium on large-scale missile exercises, both moves aimed at paving the way for multilateral talks. 
 
 “The situation in the region affects the national interests of both countries,” the joint statement said. “Russia and China will work in close coordination to advance a solution to the complex problem of the Korean Peninsula in every possible way.” 
 
 The joint declaration also called on Washington to immediately halt deployment of its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North Korean missile threat. The statement said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the area. 
 
 On Monday China’s ambassador to the United Nations had warned of “disastrous” consequences if world powers fail to find a way to ease tensions with North Korea that risked getting “out of control”. 
 
 North Korea has increased the frequency of tests this year as it attempts to develop a missile capable of carrying a miniaturised nuclear warhead as far as the US mainland – a geopolitical game-changer that Trump has vowed “won’t happen”. 
 
 The regime’s most recent missile test before Tuesday came on 8 June when it launched a new type of cruise missile that Pyongyang said was capable of striking US and South Korean warships “at will”. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kim Jong-un studies the launch site for Tuesday’s missile test. Photograph: Korean state television 
 
 David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a blogpost the initial assessments of the flight time and distance suggested the missile fired on Tuesday could have a maximum range of roughly 6,700km (4,160 miles). “That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska,” he said. 
 
 Shea Cotton, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the US, suggested the launch was deliberately timed to coincide with the anniversary of the US declaration of independence. “It’s already 4th of July in North Korea,” he said on Twitter. “I somewhat suspect they’re shooting off some fireworks today specifically because of that.” 
 
 South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff immediately briefed Moon. Since taking office on 10 May, Moon has tried to push cautious engagement with Pyongyang, but the regime has continued its missile tests, insisting it has the right to develop a nuclear deterrent to counter what it calls growing military provocations by the US. 
 
 Trump and Moon agreed to apply “maximum pressure” to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, but agreed they were open to dialogue with the regime “under the right circumstances”. 
 
 Trump declared the US had run out of patience with North Korea over its weapons programme. “Together, we are facing the threat of the reckless and brutal regime in North Korea,” he said. “The nuclear and ballistic missile programs of that regime require a determined response.” ||||| The North Korean missile departed the Banghyon airfield in the northwestern town of Kusong and flew 578 miles before landing in the sea between North Korea and Japan, the South Korean military said in a statement. The American military said it remained aloft for 37 minutes. 
 
 While the North has made significant progress in its weapons programs, experts believe it cannot make nuclear warheads small enough to be mounted on ICBMs. Still, American policy makers have long seen just the development of an ICBM as a critical threshold the North should not be allowed to cross. 
 
 The missile test adds a volatile new element to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, which have included naval drills off the Korean Peninsula and pressure on China, Pyongyang’s longtime ally. In a blunt phone call on Sunday, President Trump warned President Xi Jinping of China that the United States was prepared to act alone against North Korea. 
 
 If the missile took 37 minutes to fly 578 miles, that would mean that it had a highly lofted trajectory, probably reaching an altitude of more than 1,700 miles, said David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. 
 
 Such a missile would have a maximum range of roughly 4,160 miles, or 6,700 kilometers, on a standard trajectory, he said. North Korea said the missile flew for 39 minutes. 
 
 “That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska,” Mr. Wright wrote in a blog post. 
 
 But analysts also cautioned that although they had been impressed by the rapid and steady progress in the North’s missile programs, the long flight time itself did not suggest that North Korea had mastered the complex technologies needed to build a reliable nuclear-tipped ICBM, like the know-how to separate the nuclear warhead and guide it to its target.
– The stakes just got even higher on the Korean Peninsula: North Korea says the missile it test-launched early Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, not the intermediate-range missile that US and South Korean authorities initially said they detected. North Korea's military described the launch of the Hwasong-14 as the "final step" in creating a "confident and powerful nuclear state that can strike anywhere on Earth," though other nations have yet to confirm that the missile really was an ICBM. The latest: Authorities in Japan and South Korea did not comment on whether they now believe the launch, thought to have been Pyongyang's most successful yet, was an ICBM, the AP reports. Confirmation may require retrieving parts of the missile, which landed in the Sea of Japan. If the missile is confirmed to have been an ICBM, Pyongyang could now be capable of striking the US and will have a much stronger hand in dealing with Washington, reports the Guardian. According to US Pacific Command, the missile flew for 37 minutes on a very high trajectory, landing in waters Japan considers to be part of its exclusive economic zone. In a look at the technical issues involved, CNN reports that Pyongyang aimed the missile high to test it without causing a major international incident. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will ask the leaders of China and Russia to do more to help stop Pyongyang's missile program, Reuters reports. "Leaders of the world will gather at the G20 meeting. I would like to strongly call for solidarity of the international community on the North Korean issue," he said. David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists says the missile could have reached 4,160 miles on a standard trajectory, which "would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska." But experts believe that Pyongyang still lacks the technology to target a place accurately or miniaturize a nuclear warhead to fit on an ICBM, the BBC reports. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, tells the New York Times that the missile appears to be the longest-range one North Korea has ever tested. "It's a very big deal—it looks like North Korea tested an ICBM," he says. "Even if this is a 7,000-km-range missile, a 10,000-km-range missile that can hit New York isn't far off." (After the launch, President Trump called for a "heavy move" from China.)