N Korea claims to have tested its first ICBM, reaching altitude of 2,802 km

Leader man-baby is acting up again............................and Kim Jong Un wants to test him even more.

Kim Jong Un might just be Abe's savior. Abe needs a distraction from this election loss and this might do it.

this should include a laugh track

North Korean way of saying happy independance day?

Little Kim is also losing favor with China due to his stupidly provocative actions. If he loses his China shield he will be swatted like a fly. I just feel sorry for the people of North Korea who will suffer immensely due to their leader's stupidity.

North Korean way of saying happy independance day?

No, Independence Day didn't involve North Koreans attacking the U.S. I think it was aliens. You are thinking about Olympus Has Fallen with Morgan Freeman.

WildWest was probably referring to DPRK giant firework to congratulate the USA on Independence Day.

Yeah guys, just keep ignoring and making fun of him, no way he'll ever improve with each launch. It's all fun and games until someone loses a city!

Fear not. The steady hand of Trump is in command.  

Do I need a sarcasm tag?

...and Trump just recently tweeted "North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?", oh the irony of it all.

Is NK's goon Abe's friend?

It seems so though, everytime Abe is in trouble NK launches a missile.

Geez...does the LDP have a point guy in NK that tells Kim to shoot a missile every time Shinzo is in trouble?

Indeed, but even more so whenever Japan and the US have something to negotiate.

I agree with many of the comments above. Kim is really saving Abe's bacon. Every time things get hairy for Abe, Moritomo Gakuiin, Kake Veterinary school scandal, major election loss, North Korea fires off a missile and Abe gets to come out with tough talk, and tries to look like a leader. And unfortunately many people buy it and they forget what happened before.

We used to call this behavior "cruisin for a bruisin"...

Fat boy obviously knows China or Russia will back him up in think.

US Military say it's was an intermediate missile, flew for 37 min and fell into the sea of Japan. An area "claimed" by Japan. But not within Japanese waters.

Rewriting DJT's tweet about North Korea by changing a few words, it's easy to get this: 

“Donald Trump has just launched another tweet. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that America will put up with this much longer.”

Maybe they got the technology from Abe on condition that when he is troubled, they fire one?

KJ is wasting his own ammo......so why bother?  LOL

Is it possible for NK to launch a missile (of sufficient flight time and which will land in the sea) which isn't towards Japan?

Just curious...

Are you implying that Kim Jong-Un has a right to launch missiles in the direction of Japan?

They managed to shoot the Sea of Japan again. They really have got very good at doing it too. Such a consistent strike rate.

I wonder whether he has a tally board somewhere:

DRNK 163 v Sea of Japan 0

Phenomenal work.

Poor Sea of Japan really getting it in the neck.  should change its mane to East Sea and see if that calms L'il Kim down.

Don't believe the hype that the "threat is growing".  He may be daft as a bag of frogs, but L'il Kim isn't goiung to start a war with anyone anytime soon.  He knows that will end his little gravy train.

Just to ease Japanese fears, America has your back... or does it? The BBC includes this little tidbit...

The missile may have landed in waters claimed by Japan as its exclusive economic zone, according to Japanese officials.

The US said it did not pose a threat to North America.

As long as America's safe, eh...

Must be a bad sea to get missled all the time

Free the sea!

N Korea claims to have tested its first ICBM, reaching altitude of 2,802 km

I'm no rocket scientist, and maybe someone else here is better at the math, yet I wonder how in the world could this ICBM (if it was in fact and ICBM) travel to that height, stay in flight for 39 minutes, and land in Japan's economic zone?

It would have to go practically straight up and almost straight down..

"altitude of 2.802km" ? How? It's nearly 5 times the distance to the International Space Station. ICBM missiles max altitude is 100 to 200km.

Is it definitively known whether NK has the capability of nuking cities in Japan? There seems to be conflicting interpretations as this article is implying that "some believe" they have the capability to nuke Japan, while others say that they do and others say they don't.

If they don't have the capability to nuke Japan, after this launch I'm going to say that I am moving towards military action against NK.

It seems inevitable now that there will be some response, that response has to be quick and highly effective in ending NK as it exists, any extended land based war would ruin the region and see terrible loss of life.

Some analysts believe North Korea has the technology to arm its short-range missiles with nuclear warheads

The aroma of the weapons of mass destruction shtick is in the air.

I am moving towards military action against NK.

Oh! In that case,are you willing to sign up at the nearest army registration office?

That rocket went up 2,802 km from the earth's surface?!? So it was out in space then? Why didn't they just keep going for the moon then? I call complete BS on this latest launch.

We had this discussion about the height last time.

Instead of aiming long, as it explains in detail in the article above, which might indeed have hit the US western seaboard, they aimed high on a 'lofted trajectory' to land in the sea relatively nearby and test out their various systems. They have also fired their missiles south past Okinawa over Taiwan and the Philippines.

And the Exclusive Economic Zone is not the territory of Japan, the Philippines, China etc., but an area with certain rights, such as fishing. If the missile had landed on a Japanese fishing boat going about its legal business, this could have set off a serious diplomatic incident.

I'm not sure that appealing to China and Russia is going to work, as these countries are more likely to be helping DPRK build the things.

Either Japan and the US have to live with a nuclear N. Korea or they have to change strategies dramatically. I'm afraid to think of what Trump will do.

We go through the same rigmarole every time, the same tired old politicians trotting out the same tired old condemnation speeches. We all know the reality is that there is nothing we can do about NK. Attack them, it may be the end of mankind on Earth as we know it.

2800km altitude looks pretty high to me for such a short flight

Again a lie from NK or the superpower from Kim

Many sites among them Wikipedia mention the max altitude is about 750 miles or 1200km

Agree with posters who have serious questions not to say doubts about 'an altitude of 2,800km'. How's that possible?

Let's not forget the Kim dynasty (from NK) are known to exaggerate facts so 2,800km straight up may be equivalent to Kim Jong Il's multiple holes-in-one (golf) or world-acclaimed fashion sense i.e pure bs.

Here's an interesting tidbit from Yahoo news.

A proposal from Beijing for a freeze of Pyongyang's military programs in exchange for a suspension of US-South Korea military exercises has however failed to gain traction.

it seems the proposals and strategies are in place for the major players to compromise and deal with the DRPK, but no one is prepared to take the first step.

Relax, them Kim missiles are no match for Trump's Super Tweets!

The latter always hits their targets while the former hits only the Sea of Japan! Lol!

Frankly, between Kim and tRump, I am not sure who is crazier or who poses a larger threat to world peace.

Frankly, this gets scarier by the minute. The US can maybe handle North Korea posing a Nuclear threat to Japan and the South, but they can't have them pose a threat to the mainland US! ......even @ the expense of some major Asian Cities. (Asian Populations....cities sound somewhat inhuman. People live in these cities! People I know and care about!) And if this US decision is left up to the present ruler in the States, well that is very scary business!

Sounds disturbing, the very fact that the North is still perfect should include a red light. Thorough analysis of many sources of information will surely help. Snoring vision from the finger is not a good idea, causing panic leads to serious damage. Political fo may lead to explosion..nuclear bomb great..

So, uh... what now ?

Trump's words are Hollow, and Xi doesn't want the Americans next door, so no motivation to sort out NK. Putin, I guess has similar feelings. And, Japan can't go it alone. Stalemate.

40 minutes to go less than 1,000km? That's pretty slow for an ICBM, isn't it? That's barely supersonic.

Yes, at 2500 km above the earth, I hope they're careful not to hit the International Space Station or MIR(is it still up there?) and all the weather and photo sats, military/spy sats and hamsats that are floating around up there!

Like they would care.

The Russians claim it was an IRBM and s height was 500km.

It's serious. The US will consider it unacceptable for North Korea to have this kind of technology. In their eyes, there will have to be some kind of resolution before the North develops the ability to attach a nuke to one of these missiles. Once they do they can either use the missiles or create an industry - selling the science and technology to other 'enemies' of the west. The US won't allow it. Whatever resolutions will be - who knows. What we do know and can find out is the American naval fleet is in the vicinity and they have been conducting exercises for some time that are notable insofar as they are exercises that often take place before an attack. The US does not want to strike North Korea but there are signs that they are preparing for conflict. It's scary.

Kim has to be made an "offer he can't refuse."

1.  He and the entire North Korean political and military leadership resigns with multi-million dollar retirement packages paid by the U.S, South Korea and Japan.

The two Koreas are unified with a government formed after democratic elections are held nation wide.

A unified Korea becomes a neutral and demilitarized country  with no foreign troops.

The alternative is a nuclear war in which North Korea will lose more than the others.

Frankly, between Kim and tRump, I am not sure who is crazier or who poses a larger threat to world peace.

Tough call. Both immature attention seekers who demand loyalty and the world at their feet.

Both don't like being ridiculed, either. Remember "The Interview" and how that went down?

If the world has failed Ukraine and Qaddafi after they had given up nuclear arms, no amount of talks and dialogues will get through to NK.  NK has proved to be smart despite its reputation.

Russia and China invited U.S. and S Korea.  The meeting excludes Japan.

inada,,the hawk and Abe's chance to act to gain Japanese people's trust by crushing N Korea?