The United States has considered the possibility of shooting down any missiles launched by North Korea, including those that do not pose a direct threat. 
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Navy successfully conducted a missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii, MDA said in a statement on Wednesday.
North Korea on Tuesday morning Pyongyang time fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan in its flight path, according to the South Korean military. 
Chinese factory workers are suffering from their country's campaign against South Korean consumer goods in retaliation for Seoul's deployment of a missile-defense system to counter North Korea. 
Amid growing missile threats from North Korea, American missile defenses based in Alaska, California, and Guam, as well as on Navy ships, are capable of knocking out North Korean nuclear missiles, according to military leaders and experts. 
President Donald Trump signed the Russia sanctions bill on Wednesday. 
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system was able to shoot down a target over Alaska during a test-run Tuesday, according to a news release published by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. 
North Korea revealed a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile during the dramatic July 4 flight test into the Sea of Japan as the Trump administration on Wednesday said it is ready to use force to counter the growing nuclear missile threat to the United States. 
China achieved a breakthrough development for high-speed missiles equipped with a new high-technology ramjet engine, according to state media. 
A U.S. missile defense site in South Korea was photographed by a North Korean drone last week, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry. 