The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed North Korea fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) late on Friday evening local time, according to a press release from the Pentagon issued shortly after the launch.

The ICBM flew over 1000km towards northern Japan, with Japanese media claiming the missile landed in waters considered to be the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“The U.S. Department of Defense detected and tracked a single North Korea missile launch today at about 10:41 a.m. EDT.  We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in the