Breaking NEWS - North Korea launches ballistic missile

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) around 1:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the first such launch from the rogue regime in more than two months, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.

The missile, believed to be an ICBM by the Pentagon based on initial assessments, was launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and flew roughly 620 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan. 

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which first reported the launch, said the missile launch happened around 3 a.m. local time in North Korea. South Korea’s military had reportedly staged a “precision strike” missile exercise in response.

North Korea has been working hard to perfect “re-entry” technology to one day have a warhead be able to survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

It was determined by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that the missile “did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning III told Fox News. 

Manning, in an earlier statement, said: “We are in the process of assessing the situation, and we will be providing additional details when available.”

The ICBM flew nearly 2,800 miles into space, according to Yonhap. NASA’s International Space Station only orbits the Earth from 250 miles into space.

North Korea has now test-launched three ICBMs in its history. Tuesday’s missile flew 1,000 miles higher than the regime’s first launch on July 4. 

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted President Trump was briefed on the North Korean missile launch “while it was still in the air.”

.@POTUS was briefed, while missile was still in the air, on the situation in North Korea.

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November 28, 2017
This is the first missile launch since North Korea fired an intermediate-range KN-17 on Sept. 15 that flew over Japan’s Hokkaido Island before splashing into the Pacific Ocean. There have been signs indicating Kim Jong Un’s regime was planning a missile launch in recent days.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported Monday the Japanese government detected radio signals pointing to a possible missile test in the near future. However, satellite images did not show a missile or movable launch pad.