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Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, called the launch early on Sunday morning local time a message by Pyongyang to South Korea after the election of President Moon Jae-in, who took office on Wednesday. She said: ”You first have to get into Kim Jong-Un's head - which is, he's in a state of paranoia, he's incredibly concerned about anything and everything around him.” Mrs Haley added the United States will "continue to tighten the screws" on North Korea, mentioning sanctions and working with the international community to put pressure on Pyongyang. On Monday morning, North Korea claimed it succeeded in launching a ground-to-ground intermediate ballistic missile.

Getty Kim Jong-un is in a state of paranoia, Nikki Haley said

Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said the missile could be a new type compared to the five other unsuccessful nuclear tests carried out by North Korea since 2006, with two of them in the past year. She revealed it flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea between North Korea’s east coast and Japan, in the same direction North Korea consistently fires missiles.

North Korea v USA explosive latest pictures Wed, September 20, 2017 Images depict how tensions have escalated between North Korea and the United States. Kim Jong-Un boasted of North Korea's ability to strike any target in the US after a second ICBM test that weapons experts said could even bring New York into range - in a potent challenge to President Donald Trump Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 45 North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasong-14 being lauched at an undisclosed place in North Korea

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial assessments showed the missile landed 60miles (97km) south of Russia's Vladivostok region. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said his boss and Chinese President Xi Jinxing had discussed the situation and expressed “mutual concerns” about growing tensions”. The missile flew 430miles (700km) and reached an altitude of more than 2,000km (1,245 miles), according to officials in South Korea and Japan, further and higher than an intermediate-range missile North Korea successfully tested in February from the same region of Kusong, northwest of its capital Pyongyang. NORTH KOREA V USA LIVE: UPDATES AND LATEST NEWS

Mrs Haley was speaking at a National Security Council meeting called by Moon Jae-in in response to the launch, which he called a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions, his office said. The UN Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the launch, diplomats said on Sunday. The US military's Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile that was fired but it was "not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile". The US threat assessment has not changed from a national security standpoint, a US official said.

Getty North Korea claimed the missile launch test was successful

An intercontinental ballistic missile is considered to have a range of more than 3,700 miles(6,000km). The White House mentioned Russia in its earlier statement about the launch. It said: ”With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil - in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan - the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.” The launch served as a call for all nations to implement stronger sanctions against North Korea, it added.

Getty Kim Jong-un has been showing off his military might

Getty Donald Trump said he would meeting Kim Jong-un under the right circumstances

North Korea is widely believed to be developing an intercontinental missile tipped with a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, something Mr Trump has vowed not to let happen. Experts said the altitude reached by the missile tested on Sunday morning meant it was launched at a high trajectory, which would limit the lateral distance it travelled. But if it was fired at a standard trajectory, it would have a range of at least 2,500miles (4,000km), experts said.