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

North Korea Missile: North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile, making it the second launch in two days.

A missile fired on Friday by North Korea had sufficient range to reach the United States mainland, Japan's defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said. The missile was capable of flying as far as 15,000 km (9,320 miles, the minister informed.

North Korea Missile: A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch. (AP)

Earlier Hirokazu Matsuno, the chief cabinet secretary, had said that the projectile, in the class of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), reached an altitude of 6,000 km (3,730 miles), covering a range of 1,000 km (622 miles).

Here are the top points on North Korea's missile launch:

1. North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile, making it the second launch in two days as Pyongyang continues a record-breaking blitz.

2. The missile landed about 200 km (124 miles) west of Oshima-Oshima island in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.

3. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the missile was believed to have fallen in waters within the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the northern region of Hokkaido.

4. "The ballistic missile launched by North Korea is believed to have landed in our EEZ west of Hokkaido," Kishida said calling the launch “absolutely unacceptable”.

5. Earlier Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it had detected the "launch of an unidentified ballistic missile in an eastward direction".

6. Tokyo also confirmed the launch, with Japan's defence ministry saying Pyongyang had fired "a suspected ballistic missile".