US, South Korea send missile warning after North’s ICBM launch

South Korea and the United States fired off missiles on Wednesday simulating a precision strike against North Korea's leadership, in response to a landmark ICBM test described by Kim Jong-Un as a gift to "American bastards".

Tuesday's launch - acknowledged as an ICBM by Washington - marked a milestone in Pyongyang's decades-long drive for the capability to threaten the US mainland with a nuclear strike, and poses a stark foreign policy challenge for US President Donald Trump.

The US president had vowed that "won't happen", but independent experts said it could reach Alaska or even further towards the continental US.

The launch, the latest in a series of tests, was in defiance of a ban by the UN Security Council.

Amid international condemnation of the test, South Korean and US military forces launched short-range ballistic missiles of their own less than 24 hours afterwards from the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.

Both weapons homed in on their target, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "diplaying the capability of a precision strike against the enemy headquarters in times of emergency".

The US has asked for an urgent meeting of the UNSC to discuss the issue. A closed-door session of the 15-member body will take place later on Wednesday. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US would push for tougher sanctions by the UN Security Council.

“Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region and the world,” Tillerson said in a statement. “Global action is required to stop a global threat.”

The South's new President Moon Jae-In, who backs engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table, said the North's "serious provocation required us to react with more than just a statement".