President Donald Trump has said 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 an August 29 statement, Trump said that Pyongyang has "signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”
The missile flew over Hokkaido island before crashing into the sea in what Tokyo called an "unprecedented" threat to the country. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had spoken to Trump and they agreed to increase pressure on North Korea.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the launch and called on Pyongyang to comply with international obligations and work toward reopening communications.
"The launch undermines regional security and stability and efforts to create space for dialogue," a spokeswoman for Guterres said in a statement on August 29.
North Korea's ambassador to the UN defended Pyongyang's actions and said they were a response to military drills carried out by the United States and its allies in the region.
China warned that tensions on the Korean Peninsula had reached a "tipping point" but said Washington and Seoul were partly to blame for their repeated military drills putting pressure on the North. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Pyongyang "must respect" UN resolutions.
The UN Security Council, which recently imposed harsh new sanctions on Pyongyang over its ballistic missile tests, is to hold an emergency meeting on August 29.