North Korea claims first ICBM launch

North Korea claimed on Tuesday morning to have launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to media reports, the regime’s 11th missile test so far this year.

Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. all tracked the missile, which could not immediately be confirmed as an ICBM.

North Korea claimed the long-range weapon could “reach anywhere in the world.”

{mosads}

The test comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over the latter’s continued weapons development.

President Trump has repeatedly called on China to help curtail the isolated North Korean regime’s missile tests, and has threatened unilateral action as the launches have gone on unabated.

Trump responded to the latest test with a pair of late-night tweets:

North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

The timing of North Korea’s alleged ICBM launch is meant to ensure it gets maximum attention. The test came in the early hours of Trump’s first Independence Day as president and just days before the Group of 20 nations meet in Europe later this week.