US President Donald Trump yesterday promised "additional major sanctions" would be imposed on North Korea after its latest intercontinental missile test, which Pyongyang claims could deliver heavy nuclear warheads anywhere in the continental United States.
His statement followed a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea," Mr Trump said in a tweet.
"Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!"
He did not say what country would impose additional sanctions.
North Korea's new Hwasong-15 missile, fired after more than two months of tranquillity in the peninsula, flew nearly 960km over 53 minutes and reached an altitude of 4,500km before landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone. Pyongyang said this marks the "completion" of its nuclear programme.
South Korean President Moon Jae In and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to ramp up pressure against the North, noting that they can no longer tolerate the regime's provocations.
China's Foreign Ministry voiced its "grave concern and opposition", calling on Pyongyang to abide by United Nations Security Council resolutions. Russia warned against raising tensions. A Kremlin spokesman urged calm to prevent the "worst scenario" on the Korean peninsula.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its "strong and longstanding call" for North Korea to cease all provocations.
Yesterday's missile was fired from a lofted angle shortly after 3am (Korea time) from the western South Pyongan province. It could have flown more than 10,000km on a normal trajectory, which experts said could allow it to strike Hawaii.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the missile is capable of carrying a "super large" nuclear warhead and striking the whole US mainland. Leader Kim Jong Un, who observed the test, declared the completion of "state nuclear force".
The KCNA also said North Korea, as a "responsible nuclear power and peace-loving state", would make "every possible effort" to defend global peace and stability.
The irony, however, is that the test marked a return to provocations by the belligerent state after an unusually quiet period of 75 days.
Some analysts felt that North Korea had been careful not to overplay its hand. "In this way, Kim Jong Un is a strategist... He wants to have a workable nuclear arsenal (but) firing the missile over Japan, given its range, will surely provoke the US too far," said Kobe University's security expert Tosh Minohara.
Dr Park Jee Kwang from the Sejong Institute said Pyongyang took a longer time to prepare a missile that is "a little bit more advanced" than the previously tested Hwasong-14, adding: "They will launch missiles whenever they are ready."
Still, the missile test carries a message of "full-on defiance", said Mr Danny Russel of the Asia Society Policy Institute. "I think there is unmistakable evidence that the US, Japan and China are resolved not to permit North Korea to prevail in its effort to win legitimacy for its illegal nuclear and missile programmes... (so) there will be another turn of the sanctions crank."
•Additional reporting by Goh Sui Noi in Beijing, Walter Sim in Tokyo
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