North Korea ignored renewed global efforts to end its nuclear threat by firing a ballistic missile over Japan for the second time in less than a month early Friday morning.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from the Pyongyang area before flying a distance of around 3,700 km (2,300 miles) over northeastern Japan and landing in the Pacific Ocean, according to the local news agency Yonhap.
The projectile was assessed to be another intermediate-range ballistic missile, although it traveled 1,000 km (621 miles) further than the North's previous test -- placing American forces and strategic assets in Guam well within the North's range.
Following the "provocative" launch, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said past UN Security Council resolutions are the bare minimum response Pyongyang can expect as he called on China and Russia to take action against the North.
"China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor," he said in a statement. "China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own."
Seoul's response was swift -- the South Korean military announced a ballistic missile drill of its own immediately after revealing Pyongyang's launch, while President Moon Jae-in presided over a National Security Council meeting.
The United Nations Security Council is also expected to gather later in the day, having only just unanimously adopted its ninth resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea this past Monday in response to the reclusive state's sixth ever nuclear test on Sept. 3.
Pyongyang condemned the latest resolution, threatening, Wednesday, to completely destroy both the United States and Japan.
(Anadolu Agency)
