North Korea's latest missile launch on Tuesday reached an altitude that "greatly exceeded" 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles), Japan's defence ministry said, with analysts saying it was within the theoretical range of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM).

"The missile is estimated to have reached the altitude that greatly exceeded 2,500km, flew for about 40 minutes for 900km and landed in the Sea of Japan within our country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ)," the ministry said in a statement.

"That's it. It's an ICBM," Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, tweeted in response.

Source: AFP