06 June, 2017
Ever since South Korea's liberal President Moon Jae-in took office on May 10, this is the third test-launch by the North. Moon says sanctions alone have failed to resolve the growing threat from the North's advancing nuclear and missile programme.
It landed in Japan's exclusive maritime economic zone, which is set about 200 nautical miles off the Japanese coast, AP reports.
US Pacific Command released a statement claiming that it will continue to monitor North Korea's actions closely, adding that it is working on a more detailed assessment of the launch.
"We agreed at the G7 summit that the North Korean issue is a top priority".
The G-7 leaders, at their two-day meeting in Taormina, Italy, through Saturday, condemned Pyongyang's recent ballistic missile tests.
The Security Council adopted two sanctions resolutions a year ago to pile pressure on Pyongyang and deny the regime the hard currency needed to fund its military programmes.
The North's Scud missiles using liquid fuel is known to have a range of 300-500 km, mainly targeting the South.
Kim Hong-kyun, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs at the foreign ministry, discussed the North's missile test conducted early in the day in separate telephone conversations with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts - Joseph Yun and Kenji Kanasugi, respectively.
A statement by the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch came from around the eastern North Korean coastal town of Wonsan. Analysts said that test gave North Korea critical information on developing a re-entry vehicle for nuclear warheads and showed Pyongyang had a missile capable of striking the USA territory of Guam.
In Washington, a National Security Council spokesman said the USA government was aware of reports of a projectile launch, adding that "the president has been briefed".
Japan's prime minister, appearing frustrated at a hastily arranged press conference, said his country simply can not accept North Korea's repeated provocations.
"North Korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbour, China, by shooting off yet another ballistic missile", the President tweeted.
But the North American Aerospace Defense Command said it "did not pose a threat to North America".
Mattis also warns that a war with North Korea would be catastrophic.
On March 5, North Korea fired four SCUD missiles that traveled more than 600 miles into the Sea of Japan, and three of them landed in Japan's economic exclusion zone.
Besides its regular ballistic missile test-launches, North Korea carried out two of its five nuclear tests a year ago - in January and September.
Earlier, it test-launched the intermediate-range Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile.
China and Russian Federation condemned the rocket firing but called for restraint. China is the North's only major ally.
