North Korea test fires ballistic missile; Japan, South Korea condemn launch

In its first major provocation since Donald Trump became president, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile early Sunday into the sea off its east coast, prompting swift condemnations from South Korea and Japan.

While military sources said the test was not of an intercontinental missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, it prompted a flurry of late-night activity in Florida, where President Trump was meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The two leaders appeared at a hastily called joint press conference Saturday night at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, with Mr. Abe telling reporters that the launch was “absolutely intolerable” and Mr. Trump saying the U.S. stands behind Japan “100 percent.”
In South Korea, meanwhile, Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said his country will punish the North for carrying out the launch.

The South Korea foreign ministry said Seoul will continue to work with allies, including the U.S., Japan and the European Union, to ensure a thorough implementation of sanctions against the North to make it realize it will “never be able to survive” without discarding all of its nuclear and missile programs.

South Korean military leaders asserted in a statement that North Korea had conducted the test-launch as a calculated move aimed at “showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities in protest against the new U.S. government.”