On an icy December day in 2011, North Korea&#39;s new leader&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un was accompanied by seven advisers as they escorted the hearse that carried his father,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il, through the streets of Pyongyang.

None of the men remain with the young&nbsp;Kim. This October, he demoted the last of his father&#39;s aides, both men in their nineties. They were among around 340 people he has purged or executed, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank of South Korea&#39;s National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Kim, &quot;obviously a madman&quot; in the eyes of US&nbsp;President Donald Trump, has completed a six-year transition to what the South calls a reign of terror. His unpredictability and belligerence have instilled fear worldwide: After he tested a &quot;breakthrough&quot; missile earlier this week, he pronounced North Korea a nuclear power capable of striking the United States. But a closer look at his leadership reveals a method&nbsp;behind&nbsp;the &quot;madness.&quot;

At 33,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un is one of the world&#39;s youngest heads of state. He inherited a nation with a proud history, onto which a socialist state had essentially been grafted by Cold War superpowers to create a buffer between Communist China and the capitalist South. Under&nbsp;Kim&#39;s father, the economy was mismanaged, and the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union eliminated an important source of support. Up to three million people starved.

To consolidate a weak position, the young leader has been cultivating three main forces: military and nuclear power, a tacit private sector market economy, and the fear and adoration of a god. To this end, he has executed two powerful men and promoted one young woman &ndash;&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Yo&nbsp;Jong, his younger sister, who Korea-watchers say is also&nbsp;Kim&#39;s chief propagandist. She is&nbsp;Kim&#39;s only other blood relative to be involved in politics: His elder brother,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Chol, was rejected by their father as heir.

Over the five years to December 2016,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;spent $300 million on 29 nuclear and missile tests, $180 million on building some 460 family statues, and as much as $1 billion on a party congress in 2016 &ndash; including $26.8 million on fireworks alone, according to the Institute, which employs high-level defectors.

&quot;Yes, he has replaced many top commanders and officials so easily and ruthlessly killed some of them, which could make you wonder if he&#39;s sane,&quot; said Lee Sang-keun, a North Korean leadership expert at the Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

&quot;But this is a historical way of governing that can put you in power for a long time.&quot;

Great Leader

In ancient days, Pyongyang was the capital of a mighty empire, Koguryo, the root of the modern word &quot;Korea.&quot; Going back through history, the Great Leader concept is a blend of several ideas handed down through time: an almighty god, the Confucian worship of a parent, and a king with the Mandate of Heaven, according to Lee Seung-yeol, a senior researcher at the National Assembly Research Service in Seoul.

Lee, a leading North Korea leadership researcher, said the state&#39;s theory of succession meansKim&nbsp;the younger&#39;s rise should have been completed while his father was alive:&nbsp;Kim&#39;s father was anointed 20 years before he took over, giving him time to build allies and a leadership system.

Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un had just three years as leader-in-waiting.

Born in 1984, he was third in line for power and a fractious, competitive child, according to Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese chef who worked for the family and one of the few people to recount meetings with the young&nbsp;Kim. In his memoirs published in 2010, Fujimoto, who now runs a sushi restaurant in Pyongyang, said&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;once snapped at his aunt Ko Yong Suk for calling him &quot;Little General.&quot;&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;wanted to be called &quot;Comrade General.&quot;

When&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il knew his young son would soon succeed him, researchers have said, the father took several measures to protect the boy. Lee said these included shifting the country&#39;s power base to create rivalry between the elites so&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;the younger could play one group off against another.

Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il had declared the military the country&#39;s supreme power &ndash; a policy known as songun, which means &quot;military first.&quot; At a party conference in 2010, he changed the setup so the military had to compete with the party administration for the leader&#39;s favour.

&quot;Poor man&#39;s weapon&quot;

Military strategy was the first thing&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;changed. His father had used the promise of nuclear disarmament as a bargaining chip for aid, and in February 2012, young&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;started in his father&#39;s footsteps, promising to freeze North Korea&#39;s nuclear programme in return for food aid from the United States.

But weeks later he changed tack, saying North Korea would fire a long-range rocket. &quot;The negotiations were carried on as the legacy of&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il,&quot; said Wi Sung-lac, a former South Korean envoy to talks in 2011 that contributed to the February deal. &quot;Since then his strategicthinking&nbsp;has shaped up.&quot;

In&nbsp;Kim&#39;s view, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were fatally weakened by not having nuclear weapons, North Korean media say. &quot;History proves that powerful nuclear deterrence serves as the strongest treasured sword for frustrating outsiders&#39; aggression,&quot; the official KCNA news agency said in an editorial in January 2016.

North Korea is racing to achieve a nuclear deterrent because the state feels threatened, worrying particularly that&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;may face a fate like Gaddafi. The Libyan leader agreed in 2003 to eliminate his weapons of mass destruction; in 2011, he was killed by rebels that the United States and its allies had supported.

Months after&nbsp;Kim&#39;s accession, North Korea updated its constitution to declare itself a nuclear weapons state.

One leading pallbearer at&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il&#39;s funeral was Ri Yong Ho, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People&#39;s Army.&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;sacked him in July 2012. South Korean intelligence later confirmed that Ri had been executed.

By December 2012, North Korea had carried out another, successful, rocket test.

In 2013,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;outlined a new policy: The &quot;byungjin line,&quot; or parallel development, to combine the nuclear buildup and economic growth.

A nuclear deterrent is essential to that, says Thae Yong-ho, North Korea&#39;s former deputy ambassador to London, who staged a high-profile defection to South Korea in 2016. The threat of absolute destruction makes a nuclear bomb a &quot;poor man&#39;s weapon&quot; with which to tighten control of the country and ensure long-term rule, Thae said.

&quot;Once he has assumed control of usable nuclear weapons, he has more room to allocate resources more flexibly, and allocate the military forces for civilian construction,&quot; said Thae.

&quot;Foolish dream&quot;

North Korea spends about a quarter of its GDP on defence: Russia&#39;s President Vladimir Putin has said&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un would have his people &quot;eat grass&quot; rather than give up its nuclear programme.

But with a legacy of famine,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;also says he wants to boost people&#39;s prosperity.

The former chef, Fujimoto, said that on one summer break from school in Switzerland in 2000, the young&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;was preoccupied with a visit to Beijing his father had made.

&quot;Let&#39;s talk,&quot; Fujimoto recalled the future leader saying over drinks on his father&#39;s private train. &quot;I hear from higher up that China seems to be succeeding on many fronts &ndash; engineering, commerce, hotels, agriculture - everything,&quot;&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;said. &quot;In many ways, don&#39;t we need to take them as a model example for us?&quot;

In 2012, shortly after taking power,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;went a small way to mimic reforms China made in the 1980s. Farmers were allowed to keep most of the harvest. State enterprises were given the right to buy and sell at market prices and to hire and fire workers. Private entrepreneurs and traders were encouraged to invest in state projects or with party and military entities.&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;also began to turn a blind eye to informal markets &ndash; a force his father tried in vain to contain.

That April,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;addressed the nation - the first time in 17 years North Koreans had heard the voice of their leader. &quot;It is the party&#39;s steadfast determination to ensure that the people will never have to tighten their belt again,&quot; he said.

Outsiders hoped the reform signaled a new political openness as&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;drove to promote the North in the world: In 2012 Antonio Razzi, an Italian senator for Forza Italia who calls himself the only Italian to have met the leader, said&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;had asked him to find training facilities for soccer players in Italy.

&quot;I have talked with many (North Korean) local leaders,&quot; Razzi said. &quot;They have no plan to attack anybody. North Korea is interested in nuclear only as a form of defence.&quot;

Kim&nbsp;worked to ensure the economic freedom would not unseat him.

Also escorting his father&#39;s funeral car in 2011 was Jang Song Thaek, an administrator at the vanguard of the reforms. He was married to&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Il&#39;s sister, was a special envoy to China and had overseen a host of new Special Economic Zones all over the country.

In December 2013, Jang was hauled out of the Politburo in front of the cameras and accused of plotting a coup. &quot;Jang dreamed such a foolish dream,&quot; state media said, adding Jang hoped his reformist plans would help him &quot;get &#39;recognised&#39; by foreign countries.&quot;

Jang was shot &quot;dozens of times&quot; by an anti-aircraft gun and his remains removed with a flamethrower, according to South Korea&#39;s National Intelligence Service (NIS) &ndash; an account no one has confirmed.

&quot;Development dictator&quot;

From that point on,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;honed his personality cult. On the day Jang&#39;s purge was announced, North Korea&#39;s official daily the Rodong Sinmun unveiled a song dedicated to&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un, titled &quot;We Know Nothing But You.&quot; More were to follow.

The next year,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;also ordered school textbooks be revised to focus on idolisation of himself and include images of nuclear weapons and missiles, according to the NIS-affiliated Institute for National Security Strategy.

The idolisation campaign kicked into high gear in 2016, focused on pop culture and youth:&nbsp;Kim&#39;s chosen female singers, the Moranbong Band, staged a series of musical performances and plays calling for loyalty to the leader, while the Shock Brigade, a crew of young North Koreans in charge of major economic construction, produced about 1,200 poems and other literary works, the Institute said.

&quot;He has linked his own legitimacy to improving the economic situation in the country,&quot; said John Delury of Seoul&#39;s Yonsei University. &quot;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un wants to become a development dictator.&quot;

At home, he casts himself as a bringer of plenty. In 2015, almost half the times he was photographed were at economic events, data from Seoul&#39;s Unification Ministry shows. Only this year, as his weapons tests multiplied and met an angry response in the United States, have military appearances come back into prominence.

Standing tearfully&nbsp;behind&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un at their father&#39;s funeral was his younger sister, 28-year-oldKim&nbsp;Yo&nbsp;Jong. On the same October day that&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;dropped the last two of his father&#39;s aides, he included her in his Politburo.&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Chol, their elder brother, leads a quiet life in Pyongyang where he plays guitar in a band, according to former ambassador Thae.

&quot;I think&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong&nbsp;Un has been making good use of the existing system, while strengthening his power base and dictator regime in a very shrewd manner,&quot; said Lee Su-seok, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy.

North Korea's Kim?Jong?Un has completed a six-year transition to what the South calls a reign of terror

On an icy December day in 2011, North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un was accompanied by seven advisers as they escorted the hearse that carried his father, Kim Jong Il, through the streets of Pyongyang. None of the men remain with the young Kim. This October, he demoted the last of his father's aides, both men in their nineties. They were among around 340 people he has purged or executed, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS). Kim, "obviously a madman" in the eyes of US President Donald Trump, has completed a six-year transition to what the South calls a reign of terror. His unpredictability and belligerence have instilled fear worldwide: After he tested a "breakthrough" missile earlier this week, he pronounced North Korea a nuclear power capable of striking the United States. But a closer look at his leadership reveals a method behind the "madness." At 33, Kim Jong Un is one of the world's youngest heads of state. He inherited a nation with a proud history, onto which a socialist state had essentially been grafted by Cold War superpowers to create a buffer between Communist China and the capitalist South. Under Kim's father, the economy was mismanaged, and the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union eliminated an important source of support. Up to three million people starved. To consolidate a weak position, the young leader has been cultivating three main forces: military and nuclear power, a tacit private sector market economy, and the fear and adoration of a god. To this end, he has executed two powerful men and promoted one young woman – Kim Yo Jong, his younger sister, who Korea-watchers say is also Kim's chief propagandist. She is Kim's only other blood relative to be involved in politics: His elder brother, Kim Jong Chol, was rejected by their father as heir. Over the five years to December 2016, Kim spent $300 million on 29 nuclear and missile tests, $180 million on building some 460 family statues, and as much as $1 billion on a party congress in 2016 – including $26.8 million on fireworks alone, according to the Institute, which employs high-level defectors. "Yes, he has replaced many top commanders and officials so easily and ruthlessly killed some of them, which could make you wonder if he's sane," said Lee Sang-keun, a North Korean leadership expert at the Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "But this is a historical way of governing that can put you in power for a long time." Great Leader In ancient days, Pyongyang was the capital of a mighty empire, Koguryo, the root of the modern word "Korea." Going back through history, the Great Leader concept is a blend of several ideas handed down through time: an almighty god, the Confucian worship of a parent, and a king with the Mandate of Heaven, according to Lee Seung-yeol, a senior researcher at the National Assembly Research Service in Seoul. Lee, a leading North Korea leadership researcher, said the state's theory of succession meansKim the younger's rise should have been completed while his father was alive: Kim's father was anointed 20 years before he took over, giving him time to build allies and a leadership system. Kim Jong Un had just three years as leader-in-waiting. Born in 1984, he was third in line for power and a fractious, competitive child, according to Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese chef who worked for the family and one of the few people to recount meetings with the young Kim. In his memoirs published in 2010, Fujimoto, who now runs a sushi restaurant in Pyongyang, said Kim once snapped at his aunt Ko Yong Suk for calling him "Little General." Kim wanted to be called "Comrade General." When Kim Jong Il knew his young son would soon succeed him, researchers have said, the father took several measures to protect the boy. Lee said these included shifting the country's power base to create rivalry between the elites so Kim the younger could play one group off against another. Kim Jong Il had declared the military the country's supreme power – a policy known as songun, which means "military first." At a party conference in 2010, he changed the setup so the military had to compete with the party administration for the leader's favour. "Poor man's weapon" Military strategy was the first thing Kim changed. His father had used the promise of nuclear disarmament as a bargaining chip for aid, and in February 2012, young Kim started in his father's footsteps, promising to freeze North Korea's nuclear programme in return for food aid from the United States. But weeks later he changed tack, saying North Korea would fire a long-range rocket. "The negotiations were carried on as the legacy of Kim Jong Il," said Wi Sung-lac, a former South Korean envoy to talks in 2011 that contributed to the February deal. "Since then his strategicthinking has shaped up." In Kim's view, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were fatally weakened by not having nuclear weapons, North Korean media say. "History proves that powerful nuclear deterrence serves as the strongest treasured sword for frustrating outsiders' aggression," the official KCNA news agency said in an editorial in January 2016. North Korea is racing to achieve a nuclear deterrent because the state feels threatened, worrying particularly that Kim may face a fate like Gaddafi. The Libyan leader agreed in 2003 to eliminate his weapons of mass destruction; in 2011, he was killed by rebels that the United States and its allies had supported. Months after Kim's accession, North Korea updated its constitution to declare itself a nuclear weapons state. One leading pallbearer at Kim Jong Il's funeral was Ri Yong Ho, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. Kim sacked him in July 2012. South Korean intelligence later confirmed that Ri had been executed. By December 2012, North Korea had carried out another, successful, rocket test. In 2013, Kim outlined a new policy: The "byungjin line," or parallel development, to combine the nuclear buildup and economic growth. A nuclear deterrent is essential to that, says Thae Yong-ho, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to London, who staged a high-profile defection to South Korea in 2016. The threat of absolute destruction makes a nuclear bomb a "poor man's weapon" with which to tighten control of the country and ensure long-term rule, Thae said. "Once he has assumed control of usable nuclear weapons, he has more room to allocate resources more flexibly, and allocate the military forces for civilian construction," said Thae. "Foolish dream" North Korea spends about a quarter of its GDP on defence: Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said Kim Jong Un would have his people "eat grass" rather than give up its nuclear programme. But with a legacy of famine, Kim also says he wants to boost people's prosperity. The former chef, Fujimoto, said that on one summer break from school in Switzerland in 2000, the young Kim was preoccupied with a visit to Beijing his father had made. "Let's talk," Fujimoto recalled the future leader saying over drinks on his father's private train. "I hear from higher up that China seems to be succeeding on many fronts – engineering, commerce, hotels, agriculture - everything," Kim said. "In many ways, don't we need to take them as a model example for us?" In 2012, shortly after taking power, Kim went a small way to mimic reforms China made in the 1980s. Farmers were allowed to keep most of the harvest. State enterprises were given the right to buy and sell at market prices and to hire and fire workers. Private entrepreneurs and traders were encouraged to invest in state projects or with party and military entities. Kim also began to turn a blind eye to informal markets – a force his father tried in vain to contain. That April, Kim addressed the nation - the first time in 17 years North Koreans had heard the voice of their leader. "It is the party's steadfast determination to ensure that the people will never have to tighten their belt again," he said. Outsiders hoped the reform signaled a new political openness as Kim drove to promote the North in the world: In 2012 Antonio Razzi, an Italian senator for Forza Italia who calls himself the only Italian to have met the leader, said Kim had asked him to find training facilities for soccer players in Italy. "I have talked with many (North Korean) local leaders," Razzi said. "They have no plan to attack anybody. North Korea is interested in nuclear only as a form of defence." Kim worked to ensure the economic freedom would not unseat him. Also escorting his father's funeral car in 2011 was Jang Song Thaek, an administrator at the vanguard of the reforms. He was married to Kim Jong Il's sister, was a special envoy to China and had overseen a host of new Special Economic Zones all over the country. In December 2013, Jang was hauled out of the Politburo in front of the cameras and accused of plotting a coup. "Jang dreamed such a foolish dream," state media said, adding Jang hoped his reformist plans would help him "get 'recognised' by foreign countries." Jang was shot "dozens of times" by an anti-aircraft gun and his remains removed with a flamethrower, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) – an account no one has confirmed. "Development dictator" From that point on, Kim honed his personality cult. On the day Jang's purge was announced, North Korea's official daily the Rodong Sinmun unveiled a song dedicated to Kim Jong Un, titled "We Know Nothing But You." More were to follow. The next year, Kim also ordered school textbooks be revised to focus on idolisation of himself and include images of nuclear weapons and missiles, according to the NIS-affiliated Institute for National Security Strategy. The idolisation campaign kicked into high gear in 2016, focused on pop culture and youth: Kim's chosen female singers, the Moranbong Band, staged a series of musical performances and plays calling for loyalty to the leader, while the Shock Brigade, a crew of young North Koreans in charge of major economic construction, produced about 1,200 poems and other literary works, the Institute said. "He has linked his own legitimacy to improving the economic situation in the country," said John Delury of Seoul's Yonsei University. "Kim Jong Un wants to become a development dictator." At home, he casts himself as a bringer of plenty. In 2015, almost half the times he was photographed were at economic events, data from Seoul's Unification Ministry shows. Only this year, as his weapons tests multiplied and met an angry response in the United States, have military appearances come back into prominence. Standing tearfully behind Kim Jong Un at their father's funeral was his younger sister, 28-year-oldKim Yo Jong. On the same October day that Kim dropped the last two of his father's aides, he included her in his Politburo. Kim Jong Chol, their elder brother, leads a quiet life in Pyongyang where he plays guitar in a band, according to former ambassador Thae. "I think Kim Jong Un has been making good use of the existing system, while strengthening his power base and dictator regime in a very shrewd manner," said Lee Su-seok, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy.

The thinking behind Kim Jong Un's 'madness'

Images&nbsp;released by&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;on Thursday appeared to show it has succeeded in developing a&nbsp;missile&nbsp;capable&nbsp;of delivering a nuclear weapon anywhere in the United States and it could be only two or three tests away from being declared combat ready, US-based&nbsp;experts&nbsp;said on Thursday.

North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;released dozens of photos and a video after Wednesday&#39;s launch of the new Hwasong-15&nbsp;missile, and leader Kim Jong Un declared the country had &quot;finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force&quot;.

US-based&nbsp;experts, some of whom have been sceptical about past&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean claims to have put&nbsp;all&nbsp;of the United States in range, said data from the latest test and the photos appeared to confirm&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;has a&nbsp;missile&nbsp;of sufficient power to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in America.

Experts&nbsp;and US&nbsp;officials say questions remain about whether it has a re-entry vehicle&nbsp;capable&nbsp;of protecting a nuclear warhead as it speeds toward its target and about the accuracy of its guidance systems.

In an analysis for the Washington-based 38&nbsp;North&nbsp;think tank,&nbsp;missile&nbsp;expert Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean photos showed a&nbsp;missile considerably larger than its predecessor.

&quot;Initial calculations indicate the new&nbsp;missile&nbsp;could deliver a moderately sized nuclear weapon to any city on the US&nbsp;mainland,&quot; Elleman said.

Elleman said the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;was large and powerful enough to carry simple decoys or other countermeasures to challenge US&nbsp;missile&nbsp;defences.

&quot;A handful of additional flight tests are needed to validate the Hwasong-15&#39;s performance and reliability, and likely establish the efficacy of a protection system needed to ensure the warhead survives the rigours of atmospheric re-entry,&quot; Elleman wrote.

Only two or three more tests might be needed if&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;could accept low confidence in the missile&#39;s reliability.

Another&nbsp;missile&nbsp;expert, whose employer does not&nbsp;allow him to speak publicly to the media, agreed with Elleman&#39;s assessment.

&quot;If&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;does not make high demands on the reliability or accuracy of the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;... two or three more tests would suffice.

&quot;So long as&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;can hit US&nbsp;cities with thermonuclear warheads, they probably don&#39;t need the ability hit every city they target or target specific aim points within those cities to convince the U.S. leadership that war with&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;would be too expensive to contemplate.&quot;

In a call&nbsp;with US&nbsp;President Donald Trump on Thursday, South&nbsp;Korean President Moon Jae-in said the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;was&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&#39;s most advanced so far. But it was unclear if Pyongyang had the technology to miniaturise a nuclear warhead, and it still needed to prove other things, including re-entry technology.

US-based&nbsp;experts&nbsp;said&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;had almost certainly developed a warhead light enough to be carried by the Hwasong- 15, which Elleman said should be&nbsp;capable&nbsp;of delivering a 1,000 kg payload.

Larger, more powerful

Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies said on Twitter the Hwasong-15 was &quot;so big that the warhead wouldn&rsquo;t need to be miniaturised.&quot;

On Wednesday, US&nbsp;Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;went higher than any previous&nbsp;test and was part of a&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean effort &quot;to continue building ballistic&nbsp;missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world, basically.&quot;

North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;said the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;soared to an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 miles), more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station, and flew 950 km (590 miles) during its 53-minute flight before landing in the sea near Japan.

The&nbsp;missile&#39;s large size was immediately apparent in the photos, which analysts said&nbsp;allowed for a more powerful propulsion system.

&quot;This is a very big&nbsp;missile,&quot; said Michael Duitsman, a research associate at the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies. &quot;And I don&#39;t mean &#39;big for&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea.&#39; Only a few countries can produce&nbsp;missiles of this size, and&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;just joined the club.&quot;

US&nbsp;experts&nbsp;and officials said the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;still appeared to be powered by liquid fuel, something that made it vulnerable as it could take to up to two hours to fuel on-site before launching.

Earlier, one US&nbsp;official told Reuters the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;could have been powered by solid fuel, but experts&nbsp;said&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;could still be a few years away from being able to field a more versatile solid-fuelled ICBM.

The photos appeared to show the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;with at least two large nozzles on its first stage, instead of the one large and several smaller nozzles on the Hwasong-14.

&quot;The first stage seems to&nbsp;use essentially the same case (as the Hwasong-14) but has two engines,&quot; said David Wright, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a US-based nonprofit science advocacy group. &quot;The second stage looks like it can carry more than twice as much propellant. The combination of those two things means it really is a new, more&nbsp;capable&nbsp;missile.&quot;

While the photos show a mobile erector vehicle being&nbsp;used to position the&nbsp;missile&nbsp;upright, it is not seen in photos of the launch itself. US&nbsp;intelligence analysts have concluded that the test&nbsp;missile was fired from a fixed position, not a mobile launcher, three US&nbsp;officials said.

The massive vehicle was &quot;100 percent&quot; a domestic product of&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, state media quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.

Western analysts said it is more likely the truck was one of about half a dozen vehicles obtained years ago from China, which&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;has modified since then.

North?Korea?said the the new Hwasong-15?missile?soared to an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 miles), more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station, and flew 950 km (590 miles) during its 53-minute flight before landing in the sea near Japan

Images released by North Korea on Thursday appeared to show it has succeeded in developing a missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon anywhere in the United States and it could be only two or three tests away from being declared combat ready, US-based experts said on Thursday. North Korea released dozens of photos and a video after Wednesday's launch of the new Hwasong-15 missile, and leader Kim Jong Un declared the country had "finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force". US-based experts, some of whom have been sceptical about past North Korean claims to have put all of the United States in range, said data from the latest test and the photos appeared to confirm North Korea has a missile of sufficient power to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in America. Experts and US officials say questions remain about whether it has a re-entry vehicle capable of protecting a nuclear warhead as it speeds toward its target and about the accuracy of its guidance systems. In an analysis for the Washington-based 38 North think tank, missile expert Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the North Korean photos showed a missile considerably larger than its predecessor. "Initial calculations indicate the new missile could deliver a moderately sized nuclear weapon to any city on the US mainland," Elleman said. Elleman said the missile was large and powerful enough to carry simple decoys or other countermeasures to challenge US missile defences. "A handful of additional flight tests are needed to validate the Hwasong-15's performance and reliability, and likely establish the efficacy of a protection system needed to ensure the warhead survives the rigours of atmospheric re-entry," Elleman wrote. Only two or three more tests might be needed if North Korea could accept low confidence in the missile's reliability. Another missile expert, whose employer does not allow him to speak publicly to the media, agreed with Elleman's assessment. "If North Korea does not make high demands on the reliability or accuracy of the missile ... two or three more tests would suffice. "So long as North Korea can hit US cities with thermonuclear warheads, they probably don't need the ability hit every city they target or target specific aim points within those cities to convince the U.S. leadership that war with North Korea would be too expensive to contemplate." In a call with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the missile was North Korea's most advanced so far. But it was unclear if Pyongyang had the technology to miniaturise a nuclear warhead, and it still needed to prove other things, including re-entry technology. US-based experts said North Korea had almost certainly developed a warhead light enough to be carried by the Hwasong- 15, which Elleman said should be capable of delivering a 1,000 kg payload. Larger, more powerful Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies said on Twitter the Hwasong-15 was "so big that the warhead wouldn’t need to be miniaturised." On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged the missile went higher than any previous test and was part of a North Korean effort "to continue building ballistic missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world, basically." North Korea said the missile soared to an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 miles), more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station, and flew 950 km (590 miles) during its 53-minute flight before landing in the sea near Japan. The missile's large size was immediately apparent in the photos, which analysts said allowed for a more powerful propulsion system. "This is a very big missile," said Michael Duitsman, a research associate at the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies. "And I don't mean 'big for North Korea.' Only a few countries can produce missiles of this size, and North Korea just joined the club." US experts and officials said the missile still appeared to be powered by liquid fuel, something that made it vulnerable as it could take to up to two hours to fuel on-site before launching. Earlier, one US official told Reuters the missile could have been powered by solid fuel, but experts said North Korea could still be a few years away from being able to field a more versatile solid-fuelled ICBM. The photos appeared to show the missile with at least two large nozzles on its first stage, instead of the one large and several smaller nozzles on the Hwasong-14. "The first stage seems to use essentially the same case (as the Hwasong-14) but has two engines," said David Wright, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a US-based nonprofit science advocacy group. "The second stage looks like it can carry more than twice as much propellant. The combination of those two things means it really is a new, more capable missile." While the photos show a mobile erector vehicle being used to position the missile upright, it is not seen in photos of the launch itself. US intelligence analysts have concluded that the test missile was fired from a fixed position, not a mobile launcher, three US officials said. The massive vehicle was "100 percent" a domestic product of North Korea, state media quoted Kim Jong Un as saying. Western analysts said it is more likely the truck was one of about half a dozen vehicles obtained years ago from China, which North Korea has modified since then.

North Korea images suggest missile capable of hitting all America: US experts

US&nbsp;President Donald Trump heads to Japan on the first stop of his <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-president-donald-trump-leaves-for-asia-with-heavy-domestic-baggage-23482">five-nation tour of Asia </a>on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang&#39;s nuclear and missile tests.

Trump, who is on a 12-day trip, is to speak to US&nbsp;and Japanese forces at Yokota air base shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and looked to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security.

Ballistic missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, in defiance of UN&nbsp;Security Council resolutions, have exacerbated the most critical international challenge of Trump&#39;s presidency.

Aerial drills conducted over South Korea by two US&nbsp;strategic bombers have raised tensions in recent days.

In a display of golf diplomacy, Trump is to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders also played together in Florida earlier this year.

Trump will also have a state call with the Imperial Family at Akasaka Palace during his visit. Abe and Trump will meet families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.

Joined by his wife Melania on part of the trip, Trump&#39;s tour of Asia is the longest by an American president since George H.W. Bush in 1992. Besides Japan, he will visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Trump extended the trip by a day on Friday when he agreed to participate in a summit of East Asian nations in Manila.

His trip got off to a colorful start in Hawaii. He was taken by boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial, where lies the World War Two ship that was sunk by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.

The Trumps tossed white flower petals into the waters at the memorial in honor of those who died at Pearl Harbor.

Trade, North Korea

Trump&#39;s trip is to be dominated by trade and how to muster more international pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.

&quot;We&#39;ll be talking about trade,&quot; Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. &quot;We&#39;ll be talking about obviously North Korea. We&#39;ll be enlisting the help of a lot of people and countries and we&#39;ll see what happens. But I think we&#39;re going to have a very successful trip. There is a lot of good will.&quot;

Trump has rattled some allies with his vow to &quot;totally destroy&quot; North Korea if it threatens the United States and his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a &quot;rocket man&quot; on a suicide mission.

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, briefing reporters on Friday, defended Trump&#39;s colorful language.

&quot;What&#39;s inflammatory is the North Korean regime and what they&#39;re doing to threaten the world,&quot; McMaster said.

Trump will seek a united front with the leaders of Japan and South Korea against North Korea before visiting Beijing to make the case to Chinese President Xi Jinping that he should do more to rein in Pyongyang.

Trade will factor heavily during Trump&#39;s trip as he tries to persuade Asian allies to agree to trade policies more favorable to the United States.

A centerpiece of the trip will be a visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, where he will deliver a speech in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is seen as offering a bulwark in response to expansionist Chinese policies.

US?President Donald Trump heads to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.

US President Donald Trump heads to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests. Trump, who is on a 12-day trip, is to speak to US and Japanese forces at Yokota air base shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and looked to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security. Ballistic missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, have exacerbated the most critical international challenge of Trump's presidency. Aerial drills conducted over South Korea by two US strategic bombers have raised tensions in recent days. In a display of golf diplomacy, Trump is to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders also played together in Florida earlier this year. Trump will also have a state call with the Imperial Family at Akasaka Palace during his visit. Abe and Trump will meet families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. Joined by his wife Melania on part of the trip, Trump's tour of Asia is the longest by an American president since George H.W. Bush in 1992. Besides Japan, he will visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Trump extended the trip by a day on Friday when he agreed to participate in a summit of East Asian nations in Manila. His trip got off to a colorful start in Hawaii. He was taken by boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial, where lies the World War Two ship that was sunk by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. The Trumps tossed white flower petals into the waters at the memorial in honor of those who died at Pearl Harbor. Trade, North Korea Trump's trip is to be dominated by trade and how to muster more international pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons. "We'll be talking about trade," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. "We'll be talking about obviously North Korea. We'll be enlisting the help of a lot of people and countries and we'll see what happens. But I think we're going to have a very successful trip. There is a lot of good will." Trump has rattled some allies with his vow to "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatens the United States and his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "rocket man" on a suicide mission. White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, briefing reporters on Friday, defended Trump's colorful language. "What's inflammatory is the North Korean regime and what they're doing to threaten the world," McMaster said. Trump will seek a united front with the leaders of Japan and South Korea against North Korea before visiting Beijing to make the case to Chinese President Xi Jinping that he should do more to rein in Pyongyang. Trade will factor heavily during Trump's trip as he tries to persuade Asian allies to agree to trade policies more favorable to the United States. A centerpiece of the trip will be a visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, where he will deliver a speech in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is seen as offering a bulwark in response to expansionist Chinese policies.

Trump heads to Japan with North Korea on his mind