Update at 0730 KST: this article has been amended to reflect Mattis’s comments.

North Korea now has the ability to hit almost anywhere in the world with an intercontinental continental ballistic missile (ICBM), U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Tuesday.

The comments came in response to what the U.S. Department of Defense has assessed to have been DPRK intercontinental continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch earlier in the day.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Mattis said Tuesday’s launch went higher than any other previous test – a suggestion that the missile had the longest range yet of any DPRK test so far.

“It went higher frankly than any previous shot they’ve taken,” he said. “The bottom line is that its a continued effort to a build a ballistic missile threat that endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the United States.”

The launch meant Pyongyang has the ability to “threaten everywhere in the world basically,” he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump at the same meeting said the U.S. “will take care” of North Korea and that the situation was one Washington “will handle.”

He did not give further details how the U.S. planned to proceed.

“We take a very serious approach and nothing has changed,” the President told reporters.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said in a statement that the test had “likely” been of an ICBM.

“The DPRK’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them must be reversed,” Tillerson said.

“All nations must continue strong economic and diplomatic measures,” he continued. “In addition to implementing all existing UN sanctions, the international community must take additional measures to enhance maritime security, including the right to interdict maritime traffic transporting goods to and from the DPRK.”

The U.S. will convene a meeting of the United Nations Command Sending States in response, Tillerson said, while stressing that diplomatic options “remain viable and open, for now.”

If confirmed, this is North Korea’s third test of an ICBM, having conducted two launches of what it has named the Hwasong-14 rocket in July.

North Korea has employed lofted trajectories with both of its previous ICBM missile tests, firing them high up into the atmosphere.

If the trajectories were flattened out, the missiles may be able to reach the mainland United States.

“The current numbers we are seeing on this test indicates that it is the longest range missile the DPRK has tested so far,” Scott LaFoy, an analyst for NK Pro, this website’s sister site, said.

“This most likely makes it a Hwasong-14/KN20 modification, possibly associated with some of the new, smaller engines we’ve seen tested recently.”

North Korea is believed to have test-launched an ICBM launch early Wednesday morning local time from the vicinity of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province.

“The missile was launched from Sain Ni, North Korea, and traveled about 1000km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, within Japan’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ),” a press release from U.S. Department of Defense said.

“We are working with partners on a more detailed assessment of the launch.”

South Korea’s military staged a “precision strike” missile exercise in response to the launch on Wednesday morning local time, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported.

According to the NK Pro Missile Tracker, the launch represents the 20th missile tested by North Korea in 2017.

North Korea does not typically conduct many missile tests or launches in the fourth quarter of the year.

Edited by Oliver Hotham

Featured image: White House