game changer
North Korea missile launch – Why we should all be worried about Kim Jong-un’s new nuclear mega-missile which could lay waste to cities 8,000 miles away
WAR-mongering Kim Jong-un now has the world in his sights after launching a new nuclear missile which can hit anywhere on the planet.
The ICBM Hwasong-15 is a total game changer and looks to have fulfilled the despot's pledge to make the mainland US a realistic target for destruction.
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Ahead of its controversial launch on Tuesday night, Kim signed an order where he wrote: "Fire with courage for the party and country!"
Pyongyang said the mega-missile then reached an altitude of around 2,780 miles - more than ten times the height of the international space station - and flew 600 miles during its 53-minute flight.
But one physicist said the missile appeared to have a realistic attack range of just over 8,000 miles, which means Washington DC is now in range - along with Australia and Europe.
Here's what we know...
How big is North Korea's army and what missiles does Kim Jong-un have?
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The 'game changer' missile
According to North Korea, the Hwasong-15 can be tipped with a "super-large heavy warhead" and is capable of striking anywhere in the US mainland.
Pyongyang claims the missile has significant tactical and technical improvements from the Hwasong-14 ICBM it tested in July and is the North's "most powerful" to date.
Kim Jong-un "declared with pride that now we have finally realised the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force".
It could be bluster, but might also suggest a shift away from tests at least of these kinds of missiles toward production and deployment.
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The North's arsenal is still a far cry from the quality and quantity of what the United States can field.
The US Air Force's development of the Minuteman ICBM goes back to the late 1950s.
It now has about 400 of the latest version, the Minuteman III, which also has a maximum range of about 8,000 miles.
What can the experts tell from the test?
One physicist said the missile appeared to have a realistic range of just over 8,000 miles, which means Washington DC is now in range along with the UK, Australia and all of Europe.
David Wright, a co-director and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote on his organisation's blog: "If these numbers are correct, then if flown on a standard trajectory rather than this lofted trajectory, this missile would have a range of more than 13,000 kilometers (8,100 miles).
"Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington DC and in fact any part of the continental United States."
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis added North Korea's missiles can now "threaten everywhere in the world".
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How was the missile launched?
The missile was launched in the dead of night, most likely from a mobile launcher, near the capital Pyongyang.
That indicates the North was trying to show it can launch whenever and wherever it pleases - a capability that makes it more difficult to take pre-emptive action.
It's impossible to blow up a North Korean missile on the launch pad if the missile can be moved and there isn't any launch pad at all.
The trajectory of the launch is also very significant.
The missile was "lofted" at an extremely sharp angle and reached an altitude more than twice as high as satellites in low Earth orbit.
North Korea has launched an unidentified ballistic missile
North Korea needs to launch toward the Pacific because it would otherwise be shooting its missiles at Russia or China - a very unwise proposition.
Lofting also avoids flying over Japan, which could prompt Tokyo or Japan-based US missile-defence facilities to attempt an intercept.
And it meant the rocket hit open seas instead of other nations.
Experts can roughly gauge the range of the missile from its lofted performance, but a missile on an attack trajectory would fly a lower, flatter pattern that presents some different challenges, particularly in the crucial re-entry stage of the nuclear payload.
Why did the test take place at night?
The test was unusual, taking place when the region was in darkness.
But there are clear advantages to Pyongyang being able to master night-time launches.
One expert pointed out: "It tests your unit's ability to fire a missile under cover of darkness and there is a concealment and readiness component to this.
"If you are worried about the US trying to target missiles, it gives you a slight advantage. It is just that bit easier to hide and move things at night."
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So what now?
North Korea claimed as it always does that the test is part of its overall strategy to defend itself against Washington's "nuclear blackmail" and that its development of missiles and nuclear weapons does not pose a threat to any country.
In an equally familiar manner, the move was immediately condemned in the strongest terms by Tokyo and Seoul.
US President Donald Trump said Washington "will handle it," while giving no indication of how or what handling it actually would mean.
But the problem clearly isn't going away.
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North Korea still needs to conduct further missile tests - particularly of its submarine-launched missile systems - to improve its overall arsenal.
But having now demonstrated what it claims to be the primary missile it needs to deter attack from the US, Pyongyang may turn to more testing of its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang has hinted it might attempt an atmospheric test over the Pacific Ocean.
That would be a far more provocative move than Wednesday's missile test and might prompt a military response.
What is the message?
Donald Trump responds to North Korea launching intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan
North Korea's long-stated ambition is to complete its nuclear arsenal of weapons and be able to have the continental US within range.
This launch is the North saying to the world that it believes it has achieved both these goals.
There are some who doubt whether North Korea can miniaturise a warhead or that it has the re-entry technology needed to bring a warhead back through the Earth's atmosphere.
Who are the members of the nuclear arms club?
Around 90 per cent of the world's nuclear weapons are held by the United States and Russia, with the remainder in the hands of another seven countries including the latest entrant to the club, North Korea.
Out of an estimated 15,000 weapons around the world, around 4,000 are currently deployed and ready to be used, according to figures from the Federation of American Scientists.
The US is the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons, on August 6 and 9, 1945, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where some 140,000 and 70,000 people died respectively.
Since 1970, when the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) entered into force, five declared nuclear powers -- the US, Russia, France, Britain and China -- agreed not to sell or transfer their weapons technology to other countries.
Other signatories of the treaty -- there are 191 in total -- also agreed not to pursue a nuclear weapons programme.
Some countries abandoned their nuclear ambitions at around the time of the treaty, including Sweden (1968) and Switzerland (1969), while others have since dropped their programmes such as South Africa (1991) and ex-Soviet republics.
Despite the NPT, four other countries managed to develop their own nuclear capability: India, Pakistan and Israel, which never signed the treaty, and most recently North Korea, which pulled out of the treaty in 2003.
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