N. Korea fires missile; Trump says U.S. ‘will take care of it’

North Korea fired what appears to be its longestranging intercontinental ballistic missile Wednesday, breaking a 10-week lull between test launches this year and dashing hopes that the country may be curbing its aggressive pursuit of a nuclear weapon that could strike the U.S. mainland.

The missile flew 600 miles in a high trajectory, but would have had a range of 8,100 miles had it flown in a flat trajectory, according to calculations by David Wright, an expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. That would make it capable of reaching Washington, D.C.

The missile was launched from Sain Ni, near the capital of Pyongyang, and splashed down into the Sea of Japan, according to the Pentagon. The missile landed inside Japan’s economic exclusion zone.

Following the launch, President Trump told reporters that the U.S. “will take care of it . ... It is a situation that we will handle.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was briefed while the missile “was still in the air.”

The State Department announced it is launching an international effort to step up pressure on North Korea that could include interdicting ships carrying goods to and from that country.

Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the joint U.S.Canada effort will include 16 countries. “We have always been very clear that we would be open to talks with North Korea. But North Korea is not showing it is willing to sit down and talk,” she said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined the missile was not a threat to North America or U.S. territories.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the missile went higher than any previous test.

It is not clear whether North Korea has mastered the technology, however, that would allow it to place a miniaturized nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Mattis said the latest test “endangers world peace, regional peace and certainly the United States.”

South Korea’s military responded by conducting its own shorter-range missile tests to mimic striking the North Korean launch site, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.

The launch was the first since Sept. 15, when North Korea fired an intermediate ballistic missile.

A lull of more than two months in the missile testing prompted some analysts to wonder if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was signaling a desire to negotiate with the United States on the future of his nuclear program.

But analysts also cautioned against reading too much into that, noting that North Korea has traditionally fired fewer missiles in the last three months of the year. It is not clear why.