Kim Jong Un
Photo: AFP/STR/KCNA VIA KNS
North Korea fired an ICBM on Friday, which according to Tokyo sources could probably have reached the United States.
According to Japanese information, the projectile fell west of the island of Hokkaido in the sea.
The United States and its allies condemned the missile test “in the strongest possible terms”.
Japan and the US held a joint military exercise.
Moscow blamed Washington for North Korea's actions.
The South Korean General Staff said the long-range missile was fired from the Sunan region toward the sea on Friday morning (local time), flying a thousand kilometers and 6,100 kilometers high.
That's slightly less than the long-range missile launched by North Korea on March 24, the most powerful test to date.
Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said "the ballistic missile this time could have had a range of 15,000 kilometers."
This would have put the US mainland within range of the missile.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the rocket launch as "absolutely unacceptable".
North Korea is repeating "provocative actions with unprecedented frequency," Kishida said.
"We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms"
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck Soo called the missile test a "major provocation" that violated UN Security Council resolutions.
The international community must react resolutely to this "brazen act".
US Vice President Kamala Harris held an emergency meeting with representatives of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok.
"We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms," Harris said.
The White House then released a statement stating that the six countries threatened a "strong and decisive response" in the event of a North Korean nuclear test.
At the same time, they affirmed that "the way of dialogue" remains open.
Later Friday, the US and Japan held joint military exercises in the airspace over the sea west of Japan.
It was "a bilateral exercise" in an "increasingly difficult security environment around Japan," it said in a statement released by the Japanese Defense Ministry.
North Korea had intensified its missile tests after joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States.
US President Joe Biden spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping about North Korea on Monday.
US hopes for Chinese influence
The US government believes that the key to Pyongyang's backing down lies with China, the country's most important ally.
According to a senior US official, Washington will now ask Beijing to use its influence over the country.
It will "definitely be part of our diplomacy to get China" to join in condemning the incident and "use its influence" to "convince" North Korea, the US official said on Friday.
Russia, North Korea's second ally, accused the US of trying North Korea's patience.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency RIA Novosti that while Russia prefers a diplomatic approach, "it has recently become particularly clear that the United States and its allies in the region prefer a different path."
The internationally isolated North Korea has been expanding its weapons program for years and is therefore subject to international sanctions.
South Korea and North Korea have not yet signed a peace agreement.
All attempts by Western diplomacy in recent years to settle the dangerous conflict have so far failed.
dop/AFP