<p class="title">North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said on Wednesday his country had achieved full nuclear statehood after what he said was the successful test of a new missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch snapped a two-month pause in testing by the North and poses a new challenge to US President Donald Trump, who has vowed such a capability "won't happen".</p>.<p class="bodytext">North Korean state television brought out Ri Chun-Hee, a star presenter who only appears for significant developments, to announce the landmark.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Kim Jong-Un declared with pride that now we have finally realised the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power," she said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The great success in the test-fire of ICBM Hwasong-15 is a priceless victory won by the great and heroic people of the DPRK," she said, using the official abbreviated name for North Korea.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wednesday's missile was more sophisticated than any previously tested, state media said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The ICBM Hwasong-15 type weaponry system is an intercontinental ballistic rocket tipped with super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the US," the North's official news agency KCNA said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pyongyang said the missile reached an altitude of 4,475 km and splashed down 950 km from its launch site.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At least one Western expert said the missile's lofted trajectory suggested an actual range of 13,000 km- enough to hit every major US city.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump, who recently announced fresh sanctions on Pyongyang and returned it to a US list of state sponsors of terror, was opaque in his immediate response, as the UN Security Council agreed to meet in an emergency session.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I will only tell you that we will take care of it," Trump said at the White House. "It is a situation that we will handle," he added, without elaborating.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It was the North's third successful ICBM test.</p>.<p class="bodytext">David Wright, an arms control expert and co-director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the flight parameters pointed to a missile with "more than enough range to reach Washington DC, and in fact any part of the continental United States".</p>.<p class="bodytext">There were scenes of jubilation in tightly controlled Pyongyang, where residents gathered in front of a large screen to watch the news.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jang Kwang Hyok, 32, said the test posed a question for the US president.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I just want to ask a question to Trump, Can you still dare to backbite about our country?' 'Can you continue to do it even when Hwasong-15 is fired to the US mainland," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While Pyongyang has yet to prove its mastery of the re-entry technology required to bring a warhead back through the earth's atmosphere, experts believe it is at least on the threshold of developing a working intercontinental nuclear strike capability.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wednesday's statement from the North stressed the notion of its now being a fully-fledged nuclear power and offered language redolent of a "no first strike" doctrine.</p>
<p class="title">North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said on Wednesday his country had achieved full nuclear statehood after what he said was the successful test of a new missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch snapped a two-month pause in testing by the North and poses a new challenge to US President Donald Trump, who has vowed such a capability "won't happen".</p>.<p class="bodytext">North Korean state television brought out Ri Chun-Hee, a star presenter who only appears for significant developments, to announce the landmark.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Kim Jong-Un declared with pride that now we have finally realised the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power," she said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The great success in the test-fire of ICBM Hwasong-15 is a priceless victory won by the great and heroic people of the DPRK," she said, using the official abbreviated name for North Korea.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wednesday's missile was more sophisticated than any previously tested, state media said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The ICBM Hwasong-15 type weaponry system is an intercontinental ballistic rocket tipped with super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the US," the North's official news agency KCNA said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pyongyang said the missile reached an altitude of 4,475 km and splashed down 950 km from its launch site.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At least one Western expert said the missile's lofted trajectory suggested an actual range of 13,000 km- enough to hit every major US city.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump, who recently announced fresh sanctions on Pyongyang and returned it to a US list of state sponsors of terror, was opaque in his immediate response, as the UN Security Council agreed to meet in an emergency session.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I will only tell you that we will take care of it," Trump said at the White House. "It is a situation that we will handle," he added, without elaborating.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It was the North's third successful ICBM test.</p>.<p class="bodytext">David Wright, an arms control expert and co-director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the flight parameters pointed to a missile with "more than enough range to reach Washington DC, and in fact any part of the continental United States".</p>.<p class="bodytext">There were scenes of jubilation in tightly controlled Pyongyang, where residents gathered in front of a large screen to watch the news.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jang Kwang Hyok, 32, said the test posed a question for the US president.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I just want to ask a question to Trump, Can you still dare to backbite about our country?' 'Can you continue to do it even when Hwasong-15 is fired to the US mainland," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While Pyongyang has yet to prove its mastery of the re-entry technology required to bring a warhead back through the earth's atmosphere, experts believe it is at least on the threshold of developing a working intercontinental nuclear strike capability.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wednesday's statement from the North stressed the notion of its now being a fully-fledged nuclear power and offered language redolent of a "no first strike" doctrine.</p>