The White House confirmed the President was briefed while the missile was still airborne as it travelled over the sea between Japan and South Korea before crashing into the waters inside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
At the time of the launch, Trump was in a meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.
According to the Pentagon, the missile did not pose a threat to the US, its territories or its allies.
It added that initial assessments suggest the projectile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and flew around 1,000km before it crashed.
Seoul retaliated by firing its own ferocious “precision strike” rocket as tensions soar on the Korean peninsula.
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The North Korean missile was fired from Pyongsong, a city in South Pyongan Province, at around 6.17pm GMT and marks the country’s first launch since mid-September.
A South Korean military official said: “We confirm that we have detected a North Korean ballistic missile launch. The missile is still travelling towards the direction to the East Sea, as we are monitoring right now.
“North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile early this morning from Pyongsong, South Pyongan to the east direction. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff is analysing more details of the missile with the US side.”
President Trump and Kim Jong-un have been engaged in a series of threats and insults since the Republican tycoon took office in January.
Earlier this month, the President reacted to reports that Kim Jong-un had described him as “old”.
He tweeted: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”
This was followed by North Korea accusing Donald Trump of declaring war on the hermit kingdom after the US President berated Kim Jong-un’s authoritarian dictatorship.
In a tirade published through state propaganda mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun, Kim’s regime took aim at a speech Trump made to his South Korean allies.
The statement said: “Trump astounded the international community by ridiculously distorting and manipulating the reality of our Republic and ripping out all kinds of curse against us for whopping 22 minutes in his 35-minute speech at the puppet National Assembly in Seoul.”
Describing the US President as a “cockroach” and “bacteria”, the newspaper added: “We deem Trump’s slanders as a declaration of war to overthrow our regime.”