North Korea: Chronology of country's missile development

North Korea on Tuesday said it had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, as its decades-long weapons programme reached a grave new phase.

North Korea on Tuesday said it had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, as its decades-long weapons programme reached a grave new phase.

Here are key dates in Pyongyang's quest to develop a missile capable of hitting the United States:

Late 1970s: Starts working on a version of the Soviet Scud-B (range 300 kilometres or 186 miles). Test-fired in 1984

1987-92: Begins developing variant of Scud-C (500 km), Rodong-1 (1,300 km), Taepodong-1 (2,500 km), Musudan-1 (3,000 km) and Taepodong-2 (6,700 km)

Aug 1998: Test-fires Taepodong-1 over Japan as part of failed satellite launch

Sept 1999: Declares moratorium on long-range missile tests amid improving ties with US

July 12, 2000: Fifth round of US-North Korean missile talks ends without agreement after North demands $1 billion a year in return for halting missile exports

March 3, 2005: North ends moratorium on long-range missile testing, blames Bush administration's "hostile" policy

July 5, 2006: North test-fires seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 which explodes after 40 seconds

Oct 9, 2006: North conducts underground nuclear test, its first

April 5, 2009: North Korea launches long-range rocket which flies over Japan and lands in the Pacific, in what it says is an attempt to put a satellite into orbit. The United States, Japan and South Korea see it as a disguised test of a Taepodong-2

May 25, 2009: North conducts its second underground nuclear test, several times more powerful than the first

April 13, 2012: North launches what it has said is a long-range rocket to put a satellite into orbit, but it disintegrates soon after blast-off

December 12, 2012: North launches a multi-stage rocket and successfully places an Earth observational satellite in orbit

February 12, 2013: Conducts its third underground nuclear test

January 6, 2016: North conducts its fourth underground nuclear test, which it says was of a hydrogen bomb -- a claim doubted by most experts

March 9, 2016: Kim Jong-Un claims the North has successfully miniaturised a thermo-nuclear warhead

April 23, 2016: North test-fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile

July 8, 2016: US and South Korea announce plans to deploy an advanced missile defence system -- THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)

August 3, 2016: North Korea fires a ballistic missile directly into Japan's maritime economic zone for the first time

September 9, 2016: Fifth nuclear test

March 6, 2017: North fires four ballistic missiles in what it says is an exercise to hit US bases in Japan

March 7, 2017: US begins deploying THAAD missile defence system in South Korea

May 14, 2017: North fires a ballistic missile which flies 700 kilometres before landing in the Sea of Japan. Analysts say it has an imputed range of 4,500 kilometres and brings Guam within reach

July 4, 2017: North Korea test-fires a ballistic missile which flies 930 kilometres before landing in the Sea of Japan. Analysts say it has an imputed range of 6,700 kilometres and brings Alaska within reach. Pyongyang later says it was a "landmark" test of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea on Tuesday said it had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, as its decades-long weapons programme reached a grave new phase. Read Full Story