The US says it is also accelerating Australia's access to priority munitions through a streamlined acquisition process

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of reaching Israel and US bases in the region.

Pyongyang has opened the year with a flurry of weapons tests, including what its state media has claimed are nuclear-capable underwater drones and the launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The launch is Pyongyang's third show of force since Sunday and comes as South Korea and the US stage their largest joint military drills in five years.

The launch comes just days after Pyongyang fired two 'strategic cruise missiles' from a submarine in an apparent protest over US-South Korea drills.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their worst points in decades.

North Korea has forged ahead steadily in developing and mass producing new missiles, despite sanctions imposed by UN Security Council resolutions that ban the nuclear-armed country's missile activities.

Japanese authorities said the missile plunged into waters inside Japan's exclusive economic zone more than an hour after it was launched, suggesting the weapon was one of Pyongyang's largest missiles.

North Korea is currently holding a major party meeting in Pyongyang at which Kim and other senior party officials are outlining their policy goals for 2023 in key areas including diplomacy, security and the economy.

This is the latest in an unprecedented number of missile tests this year.

Poland and other Western states have said the missile that landed in Przewodow, a village near the border with Ukraine, was a Ukrainian air defence missile that went astray in pursuit of a Russian missile.

An intercontinental ballistic missile is North Korea's longest-range weapon and is designed to carry a nuclear warhead as far as any location in the continental US.