President Trump said Tuesday morning that “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched a missile that flew over Japan.

“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” Trump said in an early morning statement, hours after North Korea tested the missile.

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”</s>WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan.

In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said. “All options are on the table.”

In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over U.S. ally Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said. The aggressive launch over the territory of a close U.S. ally sent a clear message of defiance as Washington and South Korea conduct war games nearby.

Trump’s statement implies that military action remains an option in resolving the standoff over North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons that could threaten America. The administration has in recent weeks been emphasizing it wants to use economic and diplomatic pressure to achieve a negotiated solution.

Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan conferred by telephone over the latest missile test.

The White House said the leaders agreed that North Korea poses “a grave and growing direct threat” to the United States, Japan, South Korea and countries around the world.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,” the White House said.

Abe said in a statement that “Japan’s and the U.S. positions are totally at one.”

The prime minister added that both nations were in “total agreement” that an emergency meeting was needed at the U.N. Security Council to step up pressure on North Korea after what he called an unprecedented threat. He also said Trump expressed his “strong commitment” to defending Japan.

North Korea’s latest test came weeks after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose tough new sanctions against the government in Pyongyang.

It also followed a series of missile launches late Friday, and came after a period in which the U.S. and North Korea had traded heated rhetoric over Pyongyang’s continued missile tests, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting them.

Trump last week praised North Korea’s decision to back down from its earlier threats to attack the U.S. territory of Guan.

“But, Kim Jong Un, I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us,” Trump said at a campaign rally last week in Phoenix. “I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact. And maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had also complimented North Korea for its restraint in recent weeks.</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has warned that “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched a missile over Japan early Tuesday.

The missile was fired just before 6 a.m. in Japan, where the launch set off warnings in the northern part of the country urging people to seek shelter.

“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear,” Trump said in a statement. “This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also denounced Tuesday’s launch, saying it represented a “most serious and grave” threat.

The unidentified missile flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido, and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 733 miles off the Japanese coast.

The missile was in flight for about 15 minutes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at an emergency press conference.

“There is no immediate report of the fallen objects and no damage to the ships and aircraft,” he said.

Tuesday’s launch is the first time North Korea has successfully fired a ballistic missile over Japan.

Various stages of launch vehicles have overflown Japan during Pyongang’s attempts to launch satellites into space in 1998, 2009, 2012 and 2016.

This is the fourth missile North Korea has fired in four days. Pyongyang tested three short-range ballistic missiles, one of which failed, from Kangwon province that landed in water off the Korean Peninsula.

This time, the missile was launched near the capital of Pyongyang, a move that is rare and highly provocative.

The test shows the mobility of North Korea’s arsenal, and might have been intended to deliver a message that pre-emptive U.S. strikes on missile launch facilities could land uncomfortably close to civilians.

North Korea has launched missiles from various positions across the country in recent months, and it possesses trucks that have been converted into transporter-erector-launchers — vehicles for quickly deploying and launching missiles — including some from China.

It also is developing missiles that use solid fuel, which are much quicker to deploy than their liquid-fueled counterparts.

Soon after the launch, Abe called it a “unprecedented serious and grave threat to Japan” that “significantly undermines the peace and security of the region.”

The Japanese leader said he spoke with Trump for 40 minutes.

“Japan and the U.S. completely agreed that an emergency meeting at the U.N. Security Council should be held immediately and increase the pressure towards North Korea,” Abe said.

Trump reiterated that the United States “stands with Japan 100 percent,” Abe said.

While the missile flew over Japanese territory, one analyst said it wasn’t necessarily intended as a threat to Japan.

“If they’re going to launch to a distance, they’ve got to go over somebody. It looks to me like a risk reduction measure, they want to reduce the populated areas they fly over just in case anything goes wrong,” said Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

South Korea responded by conducting a bombing drill to test its “capability to destroy the North Korean leadership” in cases of emergency, an official with the country’s Defense Ministry said.

Yoon Young-chan, the head of South Korea’s Presidential Public Affairs Office, said four F-15K fighter jets dropped eight one-ton MK-84 bombs at a shooting range.

The operation was meant “to showcase a strong punishment capability against the North,” he said.

“We are fully ready to counter any threat from North Korea and will make unwavering efforts to protect the lives of our people and the security of our nation,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said.

Analysts believe Tuesday’s launch shows a new level of confidence from the North Koreans.

“It is a big deal that they overflew Japan, which they have carefully avoided doing for a number of years, even though it forced them to test missiles on highly lofted trajectories, and forced them to launch their satellites to the south, which is less efficient than launching to the east (due to the Earth’s rotational motion),” said David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Pyongyang’s missile tests are banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions, but that hasn’t stopped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from attempting to rapidly develop his country’s nuclear and missile programs.

This time, the missile was launched near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, which is rare.

Minutes after the missile was launched, residents in northern Japan received a text message urging them to seek shelter in a strong structure or a basement.

“We were awoken by sirens and messages from the government telling us to take cover,” a resident said.

China, North Korea’s only real ally and economic patron, called for restraint from relevant parties.

“China urges the relevant parties not to take actions that would provoke one another and escalate tensions in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.</s>In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said. “All options are on the table.”

In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over U.S. ally Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said. The aggressive launch over the territory of a close U.S. ally sent a clear message of defiance as Washington and South Korea conduct war games nearby.

Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan conferred by telephone over the latest missile test and how to respond.

The White House said Tuesday that the leaders agreed that North Korea poses “a grave and growing direct threat” to the United States, Japan, South Korea and countries around the world.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,” the White House said.

Abe said in a statement that “Japan’s and the U.S. positions are totally at one.”

The prime minister added that both nations were in “total agreement” that an emergency meeting was needed at the U.N. Security Council to step up pressure on North Korea after what he called an unprecedented threat. He also said Trump expressed his “strong commitment” to defending Japan.

North Korea’s latest test came weeks after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose tough new sanctions against the government in Pyongyang.

It also followed a series of missile launches late Friday, and came after a period in which the U.S. and North Korea had traded heated rhetoric over Pyongyang’s continued missile tests, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting them.

Trump last week praised North Korea’s decision to back down from its earlier threats to attack the U.S. territory of Guan.

“But, Kim Jong Un, I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us,” Trump said at a campaign rally last week in Phoenix. “I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact. And maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also had complimented North Korea for its restraint in recent weeks.</s>Washington — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan.

In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said. “All options are on the table.”

In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over U.S. ally Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said. The aggressive launch over the territory of a close U.S. ally sent a clear message of defiance as Washington and South Korea conduct war games nearby.

Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan conferred by telephone over the latest missile test and how to response.

The White House said Tuesday that the leaders agreed that North Korea poses “a grave and growing direct threat” to the United States, Japan, South Korea and countries around the world.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,” the White House said.

Abe said in a statement that “Japan’s and the U.S. positions are totally at one.”

The prime minister added that both nations were in “total agreement” that an emergency meeting was needed at the U.N. Security Council to step up pressure on North Korea after what he called an unprecedented threat. He also said Trump expressed his “strong commitment” to defending Japan.

North Korea’s latest test came weeks after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose tough new sanctions against the government in Pyongyang.

It also followed a series of missile launches late Friday, and came after a period in which the U.S. and North Korea had traded heated rhetoric over Pyongyang’s continued missile tests, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting them.

Trump last week praised North Korea’s decision to back down from its earlier threats to attack the U.S. territory of Guan.

“But, Kim Jong Un, I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us,” Trump said at a campaign rally last week in Phoenix. “I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact. And maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had also complimented North Korea for its restraint in recent weeks.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>US President Donald Trump has warned that “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched a missile over Japan early Tuesday.

The missile was fired just before 6 a.m. in Japan, where the launch set off warnings in the northern part of the country urging people to seek shelter.

“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear,” Trump said in a statement. “This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also denounced Tuesday’s launch, saying it represented a “most serious and grave” threat.

The unidentified missile flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido, and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) off the Japanese coast.

The missile was in flight for about 15 minutes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at an emergency press conference. “There is no immediate report of the fallen objects and no damage to the ships and aircraft,” he added.

Tuesday’s launch is the first time North Korea has successfully fired a ballistic missile over Japan. Various stages of launch vehicles have overflown Japan during Pyongang’s attempts to launch satellites into space in 1998, 2009, 2012 and 2016.

This is the fourth missile North Korea has fired in four days — Pyongyang tested three short-range ballistic missiles, one of which failed, from Kangwon province that landed in water off the Korean Peninsula.

This time, the missile was launched near the capital of Pyongyang, a move CNN’s Will Ripley, who is reporting from Pyongyang, say is rare and “highly provocative.”

The test shows the mobility of North Korea’s arsenal, and may have been intended to deliver a message that pre-emptive US strikes on missile launch facilities could land uncomfortably close to civilians, Ripley said.

North Korea has launched missiles from various positions across the country in recent months, and it possesses trucks that have been converted into transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) — vehicles for quickly deploying and launching missiles — including some from China.

It also is developing missiles that use solid fuel, which are much quicker to deploy than their liquid-fueled counterparts.

Ripley said that as of about 6 p.m. Pyongyang time, the news had not been broadcast to people inside North Korea.

Soon after the launch, Abe called it a “unprecedented serious and grave threat to Japan” that “significantly undermines the peace and security of the region.”

The Japanese leader said he spoke with US President Donald Trump for 40 minutes.

“Japan and the US completely agreed that an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council should be held immediately and increase the pressure towards North Korea.”

Trump reiterated that the United States “stands with Japan 100%,” Abe said.

While the missile flew over Japanese territory, one analyst said it wasn’t necessarily intended as a threat to Japan.

“If they’re going to launch to a distance they’ve got to go over somebody. It looks to me like a risk reduction measure, they want to reduce the populated areas they fly over just in case anything goes wrong,” said Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

South Korea responded by conducting a bombing drill at 9:30 a.m. local time to test its “capability to destroy the North Korean leadership” in cases of emergency, an official with the country’s Defense Ministry told CNN.

Yoon Young-chan, the head of South Korea’s Presidential Public Affairs Office, told reporters that four F-15K fighter jets dropped eight one-ton MK-84 bombs at a shooting range.

The operation was meant “to showcase a strong punishment capability against the North,” he said.

“We are fully ready to counter any threat from North Korea and will make unwavering efforts to protect the lives of our people and the security of our nation,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said.

Analysts believe Tuesday’s launch shows a new level of confidence from the North Koreans.

“It is a big deal that they overflew Japan, which they have carefully avoided doing for a number of years, even though it forced them to test missiles on highly lofted trajectories, and forced them to launch their satellites to the south, which is less efficient than launching to the east (due to the Earth’s rotational motion),” said David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Pyongyang’s missile tests are banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions, but that hasn’t stopped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from attempting to rapidly develop his country’s nuclear and missile programs.

This time, the missile was launched near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, which is rare.

CNN’s Will Ripley, who is on the ground in Pyongyang, said the news had not been broadcast to people inside North Korea as of 9:45 a.m. local time.

Minutes after the missile was launched, residents in northern Japan received a text message urging them to seek shelter in a strong structure or a basement.

“We were awoken by sirens and messages from the government telling us to take cover,” one local resident told CNN.

China, North Korea’s only real ally and economic patron, called for restraint from relevant parties.

“China urges the relevant parties not to take actions that would provoke one another and escalate tensions in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

Japan was quick to condemn the launch as an unprecedented provocation.

“We will make a firm response,” said Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono. “The United States made clear both in written and spoken statements that President Trump had instructed to put all options on the table regarding North Korea, and I highly value that stance.”

US President Donald Trump’s administration has been pursuing what it calls a strategy of “peaceful pressure” to rein in North Korea’s weapons programs.

The goal is to put enough diplomatic and economic pressure on Pyongyang in order to push them to the negotiating table.

Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump hinted that the strategy appeared to be working.

Trump mused at a rally in Phoenix that Kim might now respect the United States. At a State Department briefing Wednesday in Washington, Tillerson said the brief respite in the missile launches may have been an example of North Korea demonstrating restraint.

“If Trump and Tillerson believed North Korea backed down, they were sorely mistaken,” said Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for American Progress.

“They’re not going to volunteer to do this (give up their weapons). Ever,” he said. “It’s a matter of bargaining. And North Korea has signaled over and over again that the price is really high.”

Analysts say North Korea believes developing a nuclear weapon that can fit atop a missile powerful enough to reach the United States is the only way Pyongyang can deter any US-led efforts at regime change.

“They cross line after line in an effort to say this is the new reality and you should accept it and go easy on us,” Mount said. “I think that’s a pretty unambiguous signal that they’re no longer going to be restrained by the United States.”

The launch was likely a signal to Japan, analysts say, as it comes the day after the Northern Viper military drills ended between the United States and Japan on Hokkaido — part of a North Korea strategy to drive a wedge between the US and its two main allies in the region — Japan and South Korea.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga told reporters this launch “could endanger peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also very dangerous and problematic in terms of the traffic safety of planes and ships.”

The United States is currently participating in its annual 10-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises with South Korea, which began on August 21.

Those drills are more logistical and defensive in nature — though Pyongyang sees them as provocative — whereas the Northern Viper drills could be considered more operational, Mount said.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned the North Korean launch as “yet another provocation despite grave messages of warning,” in a statement Tuesday.

“The North Korean regime needs to realize that denuclearization is the only true path to securing its security and economic development and needs to come to the path for nuclearization dialogue instead of conducting its reckless provocation,” the statement said.</s>President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that the U.S. was finished "talking" with North Korea after it said it successfully launched a missle over Japan, a U.S. ally, in an apparent threat to Guam.

North Korea state media said the launch was as "precursor" for its containment of the U.S. territory of Guam.

“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea ... for 25 years. Talking is not the answer,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have escalated over the past few weeks and Trump’s tough rhetoric and warnings only increased.

Online and in talks with reporters, Trump has railed against his North Korean counterpart and threatened “fire [and] fury” – especially if North Korea attacks the U.S.

Here’s a look at what Trump has said about North Korea over time:

The U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’

Trump took to social media on August 11 to proclaim that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” in case “North Korea act[s] unwisely.”

With the threat of nuclear violence growing, Trump warned North Korea on August 8 that he would unleash “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

PENTAGON SAYS READY TO 'FIGHT TONIGHT' AS TRUMP SHOWS BOMBER PICS

But when tensions continued to rise and North Korea threatened to attack Guam, Trump said maybe that comment wasn’t “tough enough.”

"Let’s see what [Kim Jong Un] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before – what will happen in North Korea," Trump said on August. 10.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump is "sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un can understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language."

Kim Jong Un is ‘not getting away with it’

Trump also said this week that Kim Jong Un has “disrespected our country greatly.”

“He has said things that are horrific. And with me, he’s not getting away with it,” Trump said. “He got away with it for a long time, between him and his family. He’s not getting away with it. It’s a whole new ball game.”

After meeting with the South Korean president in Washington, D.C., in June, Trump said that the “era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed.”

BOMB SHELTER BUSINESS BOOMING, THANKS TO NORTH KOREA AND TRUMP

“Frankly, that patience is over,” he said.

As Trump made these comments, the U.S. was rocked with the death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student who suffered extensive brain damage while being held captive for more than a year.

There are ‘worse things’ than assassinating Kim Jong Un

In an interview with CBS News during the presidential campaign, Trump said he could “get China to make [Kim Jong Un] disappear in one form or another very quickly.”

When asked if he was talking about assassinating the North Korean dictator, Trump shrugged.

“Well, you know, I’ve heard of worse things, frankly. I mean, this guy’s a bad dude – and don’t underestimate him,” Trump said. “Any young guy that can take over from his father with all those generals and everybody else that probably wants the position, this is not somebody to be underestimated.”

‘What the hell is wrong with speaking?’

Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Atlanta that should Kim Jong Un want to come to the U.S., he would be “accept[ed].”

MATTIS: WAR WITH NORTH KOREA WOULD BE 'CATASTROPHIC'

“I wouldn’t go there, that I can tell you. If he came here, I’d accept him, but I wouldn’t give him a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people that rip us off when we give them these big state dinners,” Trump said in June 2016.

“What the hell is wrong with speaking?” Trump said, referencing the criticism he’s received for being so willing to talk with North Korea. “It’s called opening a dialogue.”

During a GOP presidential debate in September 2015, Trump railed on the “maniac” in North Korea while answering a question about Planned Parenthood and women’s health issues.

“Nobody ever mentions North Korea, where you have this maniac sitting there, and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea,” Trump said.

“You have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, ‘I’m ready to use them,’ and we don’t even mention it,” he continued.

China needs to solve the problem

Even before he was president, Trump urged China to step in and help alleviate problems with North Korea.

“North Korea is reliant on China. China could solve this problem easily if they wanted to but they have no respect for our leaders,” Trump tweeted in March 2013.

WHERE IS GUAM AND WHY WOULD NORTH KOREA ATTACK IT?

In April 2013, Trump continued that line of thinking, adding that “North Korea can’t survive, or even eat, without the help of China.” He then accused China of “taunting” the U.S.

In April 2013, Trump urged then-President Barack Obama to “be very careful” with the “28-year-old wack job in North Korea.”

“At some point we may have to get very tough,” he tweeted.

Trump warned that the U.S. needed to “do something to stop” North Korea in 1999 during an interview with the late Tim Russert on “Meet the Press.”

"Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington and every one of us, is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do something now?” Trump said. “You'd better do it now. And if they think you're serious … they'll negotiate and it'll never come to that.”

TRUMP SAYS TALKING TO NORTH KOREA 'NOT THE ANSWER,' RIPS US 'EXTORTION' PAYMENTS

He said then that if he ever became president, the first step he would take would be to “negotiate like crazy” to make sure that the country would “get the best deal possible.” Trump also predicted then that in “three or four years,” North Korea would have weapons aimed all over the world, including at the U.S.

After North Korea said it successfully launched a missile over Japan, a U.S. ally, and into the Pacific Ocean, Trump initially had a surprisingly subdued response.

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world," Trump said in a written statement after North Korea’s missile soared almost 1,700 miles into the Pacific Ocean, triggering alert warnings in northern Japan and shudders throughout Northeast Asia. "All options are on the table."

The missile launch was said to be a “precursor” to North Korea’s containment of the U.S. territory of Guam by leader Kim Jong Un, according to state-run media.

But in a tweet Wednesday morning, the president suggested the U.S. is finished “talking” to North Korea.

“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer,” Trump tweeted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's military says North Korea fired a ballistic from its capital Pyongyang toward the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

 

 Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the launch and didn't immediately confirm how far the projectile traveled and where it landed.

 

 The launch comes days after the North fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and a month after its second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

 

 The North has also threatened to lob some of its missiles toward Guam and expressed anger over the ongoing annual war games between the United States and South Korea.</s>The U.S. and South Korea are to blame for North Korea’s latest missile launch over Japan, and further sanctions on the regime will not ameliorate the situation, Russia said Tuesday.

In defiance of U.N. resolutions banning its missile testing and fresh international sanctions drafted by the U.S., North Korea carried out another missile test on Tuesday morning, the fourth in as many days, this time directly over Japan for the first time. The regime has already traded barbs with President Donald Trump due to its repeated missile testing and expanding range, including a direct threat made at U.S. pacific territory Guam.

That threat prompted the U.S. to rally its allies and, with China and Russia on side, impose new sanctions on the rogue state.

Anticipating more of the same to follow, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told journalists on Tuesday that U.S. actions were pushing the regime toward more tests, not halting it, state news agency Itar-Tass reported.

“If we go by how colleagues from the U.S. and other western countries have acted in the past, then of course we can expect new steps towards tightening the sanctions, but this will not solve the problem,” Ryabkov said. “It is now obvious to everyone that the resources for influencing North Korea with sanctions have run out.”

Ryabkov referred to the joint military exercises the U.S. is currently holding with ally South Korea. The latest Ulchi Freedom Guardian activity involved computer-simulated warfare and took place over the weekend. The drill aims to strengthen the ability to respond to an potential attack from the North and continues until the end of August. The Russian minister called it “a trend of escalation,” a reiteration of China and Russia's previous arguments in favor of limiting U.S. military presence in the Asia Pacific neighborhood.

The North regularly protests U.S. drills in the region, and in his statement Ryabkov appeared to refer to Ulchi Freedom Guardian directly, taking a more sympathetic approach to the North’s tests.

Read More: After U.S. travel ban, North Korea is courting Russian tourists with new agency

“We consider the joint drills that went ahead anyway, albeit in a lighter mode compared to the initial agenda, made an impact in terms of provoking Pyongyang to make the new launch. We are highly concerned by the general developments,” he said.

In principle both Russia and China oppose widespread nuclear proliferation. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Chinese President Xi Jinping for a trade summit next month, where the pair will discuss North Korea. Public statements of concern aside, though, the two countries maintain a similar approach of suggesting that more U.S. disarmament in the region will help curb the North’s nuclear proliferation goals.
• South Korea Reacts to North Korea's Missile by Testing Plan to Bomb Kim Jong Un
• Trump Dodges Question on Russia Security Threat While Standing Next to Key Nato Ally
• North Korea May Be Getting Ready for Its Sixth Nuclear Test, According to South Korean Spies</s>WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that North Korea's launch of a missile over Japan was "absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible" and that the Security Council now needed to take serious action.

"No country should have missiles flying over them like those 130 million people in Japan. It's unacceptable," Haley told reporters. North Korea has "violated every single U.N. Security Council resolution that we've had and so I think something serious has to happen," she added.

Saying "enough is enough," Haley said she hoped China and Russia would continue to work with the rest of the U.N. Security Council when it meets on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what more can be done about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says North Korea's launch of a missile over Japan was "absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible" and that North Korea has "violated every single U.N. Security Council resolution that we've had, and so I think something serious has to happen."