Events

The tyrant claimed Friday’s launch, which landed in the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, was a “stern warning” to the US that it would not be safe from destruction if President Donald Trump tried to launch an attack.

But now a top US physicist has calculated the terrifying full range of Kim’s nuclear missiles.

According to physicist David Wright, Co-Director of the Union of Concerned Scientist’s Global Security Program, if the missile is successfully launched, it could have a potential maximum range of 6,500 miles (10,400km).This would put cities such as Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago within the missile’s strike zone.

Population centres such as New York and Boston could also be under threat, but the rotation of the earth would mean the capital Washington DC would not be at risk of a direct hit.

The US confirmed Pyongyang launched a long range missile which travelled more than 600 miles (1,000km) before coming down in the Sea of Japan.In a blog post, he wrote: “It is important to keep in mind that we do not know the mass of the payload the missile carried on this test.

“If it was lighter than the actual warhead the missile would carry, the ranges would be shorter than those estimated above.”

The launch, carried out on Friday afternoon, puts Kim Jong-un’s regime one step closer to a confrontation with the US.