North Korea fires ICBM hours before South Korea-Japan summit to counter nuclear threats

This is the third round of missile tests made by the North in just a week

File A Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is launched at Pyongyang International Airport, in Pyongyang, (via REUTERS)

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) hours before South Korea’s president landed in Japan for a summit about nuclear threats.

The missile was launched from Pyongyang’s Sunan area at 7.10am on Thursday and it fell in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, said South Korean and Japanese assessments.

The suspected ICBM flew about 1,000km at a maximum altitude of 6000km after taking a 70-minute-long flight, they said.