Transcript for Fallout from North Korea's ICBM test-fire claim

James Longman, thank you. Let's bring in Steve ganyard, a former state department official. Steve, good morning to you. Good morning, Dan. So whether or not this is an icbm, would you say this launch is nonetheless a genuine step toward North Korea having the ability to hit us in the mainland U.S. With a nuclear weapon? I don't think we should be too worried about what we call it, Dan. This is the first time if the analysis is correct that we're seeing a north Korean weapon that can hit the United States, not the mainland but Alaska is very much part of the united States and this is a very worrying development. President trump has been trying for months to get China, North Korea's most important ally, to intervene here. But in a phone call on Sunday, just hours before this test, president trump told the Chinese leader that the U.S. Is now willing to go it alone on north Korea so I guess my question is what exactly does that mean? What are our options? Well, president trump's really stating the obvious because China has left us on our own. Nobody will solve this except the United States and the problem is with this launch it's no longer just a regional problem. This is a U.S. Problem because it can now reach the U.S. Territory soil, so right now the only thing the U.S. Has is economic sanctions, it's the same thing that the past four U.S. Presidents have, the problem is it's going to involve sanctioning Chinese banks which can going to further exacerbate our very sour relationship with the Chinese and so there's an interesting knock-on effect. This missile launch will have -- will, in fact, ruin or make our relationship with the Chinese much worse. No good options, Steve ganyard, thank you very much for your analysis on this holiday weekend. Paula, over to you.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.