North Korea fired an intermediate range ballistic missile from the vicinity of the country’s capital, Pyongyang, and over Japan, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday evening.
“The ballistic missile overflew the territory of northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan,” U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement.
The launch was first reported by South Korean media Friday local time.
“North Korea fired an unidentified missile eastward from the vicinity of Pyongyang this morning,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The Japanese government said the missile flew over the northern part of Japan, the second missile from North Korea to do so in recent months, Agence France-Presse reported.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the Japanese government reported the missile landed approximately 1,240 miles off the cape of Erimo in Hokkaido.
President Trump has been briefed on the missile launch by chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, according to a press pool report.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson responded by saying countries should consider new sanctions against North Korea, beyond the United Nations sanctions agreed this week.
“United Nations Security Council resolutions, including the most recent unanimous sanctions resolution, represent the floor, not the ceiling, of the actions we should take,” he said. “We call on all nations to take new measures against the Kim regime.”
The U.S. Pacific Command said it was working with their interagency partners to determine more about the missile launch.
“Our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, remains ironclad,” The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. “We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation.”
The North American Aerospace Defense Command said the missile did not pose a threat to the U.S. or to Guam.
South Korean officials warned last week that another missile test would occur last weekend, but that test didn’t happen. North Korea has conducted multiple missile tests this summer.
North Korea recently acknowledged the new sanctions the United Nations Security Council imposed this week.
“My delegation condemns in the strongest terms and categorically rejects the latest illegal and unlawful U.N. Security Council resolution,” Pyongyang’s ambassador, Han Tae Song, told the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Reuters reported.
Additionally, he warned the nation was “ready to use a form of ultimate means,” and said future actions will cause the U.S. “the greatest pain it ever experienced in its history.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the recent U.N. sanctions that were passed were not as severe as those that might come in the future.
“United Nations Security Council resolutions, including the most recent unanimous sanctions resolution, represent the floor, not the ceiling, of the actions we should take,” Tillerson said in a statement. “We call on all nations to take new measures against the Kim regime.”
The United Nations Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the missile, according to Reuters.
