The announcement claimed that firing the missile was “the first step” of Pyongyang’s military operations in the region and repeated threats against the US territory of Guam, which it branded “an advanced base of invasion”.
The missile travelled over the Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido before splitting into three and crashing into the sea.
South Korea’s military said Kim’s regime fired the “unidentified projectile” from Pyongyang towards the sea at 5:57am local time on Tuesday.
The Japanese government’s J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions.
Warnings were issued across Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata and Nagano.
The Japanese military made no attempts to shoot down the missile and it landed in the sea, around 1,180km east of Hokkaido.
President Trump attacked North Korea’s “threatening and destabilising actions” as he reacted to the news yesterday morning.
In a statement released by the White House, President Trump raged: “The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour.
“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world.”
He added: “All options are on the table.”
Following a phone call with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, 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.”
Mr Trump and Mr Abe also “committed to increasing pressure on North Korea and are doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same”, according to the White House statement.
Hours afterwards, the US Navy conducted its own missile test near Hawaii in a bold show of strength to Pyongyang.