N Korea fires missile that lands in sea near Russia

North Korea, defying calls to rein in its weapons program, fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday, days after a new leader in South Korea came to power pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue. The US military's Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile that was fired but it was "not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile". The US threat assessment has not changed from a national security standpoint, a US official said.

Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said the missile could be a new type. It flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea between North Korea's east coast and Japan. North Korea has consistently test-fired missiles in that direction. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missile landed 97 km (60 miles) south of Russia's Vladivostok region, prompting the White House to reference Moscow in a statement about the incident.

"With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil – in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan – the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased," the White House said, referring to US President Donald Trump.

North Korea is widely believed to be developing an intercontinental missile tipped with a nuclear weapon that is capable of reaching the United States. Trump has vowed not to let that happen. The missile flew 700 km (430 miles) and reached an altitude of more than 2,000 km (1,245 miles), according to officials in South Korea and Japan, further and higher than an intermediate-range missile North Korea successfully tested in February from the same region of Kusong, northwest of its capital, Pyongyang.

An intercontinental ballistic missile is considered to have a range of more than 6,000 km (3,700 miles). Experts said the altitude reached by the missile tested on Sunday meant it was launched at a high trajectory, which would limit the lateral distance it travelled.

But if it was fired at a standard trajectory, it would have a range of at least 4,000 km (2,500 miles), experts said. "The launch may indeed represent a new missile with a long range," said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, referring to the estimated altitude of more than 2,000 km (1,240 miles). "It is definitely concerning."

Speaking in Beijing, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula, including the latest missile launch, and expressed "mutual concerns" about growing tensions.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who took office on Wednesday, held his first National Security Council in response to the launch, which he called a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions, his office said. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said North Korea's missile launches were a "grave threat to our country."