U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to increase pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan early on August 29 for the first time since 2009, Abe's office said.
"Their outrageous act of firing a missile over our country is an unprecedented, serious, and grave threat and greatly damages the regional peace and security," Abe said in Tokyo, calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which recently imposed harsh new sanctions on Pyongyang over its ballistic missile tests.
Japanese officials said the missile broke up over water off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido without causing damage.
But they said the missile, which flew 2,700 kilometers and reached an altitude of 550 kilometers, likely was the same type of powerful intermediate-range missile that North Korea fired in May, having the capability of reaching the U.S. mainland.
The Pentagon said the missile posed no threat to North America. But the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff agreed with his South Korean counterpart that the allies must make a "strong response," including with "military measures," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The latest launch came as North Korea complained at the UN about joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises which it called "recklessly provocative."
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters