Kim Jong-un was there in person to oversee the launch of North Korea's latest long-range ballistic missile test which flew 1,700 miles over Japan.

The dictator was pictured laughing with top officials as the Hwasong-12 was unleashed on Tuesday and later warned the launch was a mere 'curtain raiser'.

State media boasted that the test was timed to mark the 107th anniversary of the 'disgraceful' Japan-Korea treaty of 1910, under which Tokyo colonised the Korean peninsula.

It was part of 'a bold plan to make the cruel Japanese islanders insensible on bloody August 29', the KCNA agency said, adding that the test was a 'meaningful prelude to containing Guam', the US Pacific base.

This morning, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned America will not allow North Korea's lawlessness to continue adding it is time for Pyongyang to recognise the 'danger they are putting themselves in' as the world is united against them.

Kim Jong-un views in person (shown) the launch of North Korea's latest long-range ballistic missile test which flew 1,700 miles over Japan

The dictator was pictured laughing with top officials as the Hwasong-12 was unleashed on Tuesday and later warned the launch was a mere 'curtain raiser'

South Korean army soldiers work near K-9 self-propelled howitzers during a military exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea this morning

US President Donald Trump has said that 'all options' were on the table, reviving his implied threat of pre-emptive US military action just days after congratulating himself that Kim appeared to be 'starting to respect us'.

The UN Security Council - which has already imposed seven sets of sanctions on Pyongyang - said in a unanimous statement the North's actions 'are not just a threat to the region, but to all UN member states'.

Both the North's key ally China and Russia, which also has ties to it, backed the US-drafted declaration, but it will not immediately lead to new or tightened measures against Pyongyang.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, on Wednesday carried more than 20 pictures of the launch near Pyongyang, one showing Kim smiling broadly at a desk with a map of the Northwest Pacific, surrounded by aides.

Another showed him gazing upwards as the missile rose into the air.

The official Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying that 'more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future' were necessary.

Tuesday's launch was a 'meaningful prelude to containing Guam, advanced base of invasion', he said, and a 'curtain-raiser' for the North's 'resolute countermeasures' against ongoing US-South Korean military exercises which the North regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

Wednesday's statement was the first time the North has acknowledged sending a missile over Japan's main islands. Two of its rockets previously did so, in 1998 and 2009, but on both occasions it claimed they were space launch vehicles.

South Korean army soldiers were pictured carrying out drills close to the border with the North amid heightened tensions between the two countries

South Korean soldiers carried out drills with K-9 self-propelled howitzers in Paju, South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for more weapons launches targeting the Pacific Ocean to advance his country's ability to contain Guam, state media said on Wednesday

Tuesday's aggressive missile launch (pictured) sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby

The rocket 'crossed the sky above Oshima peninsula of Hokkaido and Cape Erimo of Japan along the preset flight track and accurately hit the preset target waters in northern Pacific', it said.

South Korea's military said Tuesday that it had travelled around 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 550 kilometres.

North Korea has twice previously sent rockets over the main islands of Japan, in 1998 and 2009, but on both occasions claimed they were space launch vehicles.

'The drill had no impact on the security of the neighbouring countries,' KCNA insisted, adding that Kim expressed 'great satisfaction' over the launch.

There would be 'more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future', it cited him as saying.

The launch, it added, was timed to mark the 107th anniversary of the 'disgraceful' Japan-Korea treaty of 1910, under which Tokyo colonised the Korean peninsula.

It ushered in a period of oppressive ruled that only ended with Japan's defeat in the Second World War and is resented by Koreans on both sides of the divided peninsula, complicating the relationship between Tokyo and Seoul, both of them US allies threatened by Pyongyang.

With the launch, KCNA said, Kim 'gave vent to the long-pent grudge of the Korean people' with 'a bold plan to make the cruel Japanese islanders insensible on bloody August 29'.

Kim expressed great satisfaction over what the North described as successful testing (shown) and said the country will continue to watch 'US demeanors'

Tuesday's aggressive missile launch sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.

Pyongyang said it was a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that the North first tested in May and threatened to fire into waters near Guam earlier this month.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile travelled around 1,677 miles and reached a maximum height of 341 miles as it flew over the northern Japan.

Kim expressed great satisfaction over what the North described as successful testing and said the country will continue to watch 'US demeanors'.

TOKYO STOCKS RECOVER AMID HEIGHTENED GLOBAL TENSIONS Tokyo stocks opened higher today, recovering from the previous day's sell-off after North Korea fired a missile over Japan. Global stocks swooned on Tuesday after North Korea launched a missile over Japan, deepening geopolitical worries while sending safe-haven assets like gold higher. But Wall Street righted itself mid-session, with two of its major indices shrugging off missile-related worries and grinding out a positive result for the day, although Hurricane Harvey's impact on Texas and the oil industry weighed on buying sentiment. 'Investors bought back stocks as they are relieved to see gains in New York,' said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at the investment strategy section of Daiwa Securities. 'The yen's weakness is also helping sustain buying sentiment,' Sato told AFP. Tokyo stocks opened higher today, recovering from the previous day's sell-off after North Korea fired a missile over Japan 'However, the Tokyo market is expected to remain nervous about geopolitical factors for now,' he added. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which fell to a four-month low on Tuesday, gained 0.51 percent, or 99.45 points, to 19,462.00 in the first few minutes of trade, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.41 percent, or 6.58 points, at 1,604.34. The dollar, which fell below 109 yen following the missile launch, changed hands at 109.73 yen, compared with 109.75 yen in New York on Tuesday. A weaker yen is positive for Japanese shares as it boosts the value of exporters' repatriated profits and makes them more competitive overseas. Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, a market heavyweight, which tumbled nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, rose 1.10 percent to 31,140 yen. Sony jumped 1.54 percent to 4,265 yen and Panasonic gained 0.51 percent to 1,454.5 yen. Toyota rose 0.73 percent to 6,135 yen but Nissan edged down 0.04 percent to 1,085 yen with Honda down 0.06 percent at 3,038 yen. Advertisement

He called the launch a 'meaningful prelude' to containing Guam, which is home to key U.S. military bases.

The leader was quoted as saying: 'The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam.'

This morning, British Prime Minister Theresa May called on China to put more pressure on North Korea to stop missile tests, saying Beijing has a key role to play in international efforts to prevent what she described as significant provocation by Pyongyang.

'We want to ensure that they desist this action. We see that the best way of doing that is for China to be bringing pressure to bear on North Korea,' May told reporters on her way to Japan for meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Weeks ago, Trump had warned that North Korea would face 'fire and fury' if it issued threats to the U.S.

The U.S. led an effort for new sanctions against the rogue regime that were approved by the UN Security Council.

Within hours of Kim's missile launch, South Korea had responded with an 'overwhelming show of force' by bombing a shooting range near its border to the North as part of a military drill, launching footage which contained a stern warning to Kim Jong-Un.

Response: A bomb hits a mock target at the Pilseung Firing Range in Gangwon-do, South Korea near the border to the North after on Tuesday as the South continues military drills

Living in fear: South Koreans watch file footage of a North Korean missile launch, at a railway station in Seoul after the North fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean

Seoul dropped eight Mark 84 bombs with four F15K fighter jets near Taebaek, Gangwon-do province, and released footage of the drill along with a video of its own ballistic missile tests conducted last week.

'If North Korea threatens the security of the South Korean people and the South Korea-US alliance with their nuclear weapons and missiles our air forces will exterminate the leadership of North Korea with our strong strike capabilities,' South Korean Colonel Lee Kuk-no warned in the video.

A statement from Seoul later on Tuesday echoed this sentiment, saying South Korea is 'fully ready for any threat from the North'.

'We strongly condemn the North's yet another provocation despite a grave message sent through Resolution 2371 adopted by the international community in the wake of its repeated strategic provocations,' the government said in a statement published by Yonhap news.

'We are fully ready for any threat from the North and will make unwavering efforts to protect the lives of our people and the security of our nation,' it said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump depart the White House in Washington, U.S., on their way to view storm damage in Texas

In the wake of the launch, Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

According to a readout released by the White House, 'The two leaders agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, as well as to countries around the world.'

'President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,' according to the statement.

The rocket launched by North Korea this morning broke into three pieces off the coast of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean, around 700 miles east of Cape Erimo, after travelling 1,700 miles in eight minutes.

Japanese military did not attempt to shoot down the rocket, reportedly a mid range ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload.

North Korea's UN ambassador has blamed the U.S. for 'driving the peninsula towards an extreme level of explosion' by joining the South for war drills in the Pacific, calling today's missile test 'justified'.

Han Tae Song set to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting in Geneva later today, did not explicitly refer to his country's latest test firing of a ballistic missile that flew over Japan into the sea earlier in the day.