North Korea sparked fears of World War 3 by continuing its ballistic missile testing after months of silence.
The North Korean missile was fired from Pyongsong, a city in South Pyongan Province, at around 6.17pm GMT and marks the country’s first launch since mid-September.
The British ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft blasted the test as “reckless” and called on the regime to abandon its plans.
He said: “This is a reckless act by a regime which is more intent on building up it’s ballistic missile nuclear capability than it is on looking after its own people.
“We call on the regime to give up its programs, to invest instead in the people of North Korea.”
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NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: “This is a further breach of UN Security Council Resolutions, undermining regional and international security.”
South Korea responded furiously to the North Korea missile test by launching its own “precision strike” rocket.
Within minutes of the North Korea launch, Seoul fired its own missile in retaliation.
Kim Jong-un’s latest launch comes hours after US government sources warned a launch could take place “in the next few days”.
It also comes before planned military exercises between the US and North Korea.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said he strongly condemns the missile launch, noting that it had been anticipated and that the government had been preparing for it in advance.
Mr Moon added there is no choice but for the international community to continue applying pressure and sanctions against North Korea.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said North Korea needs to “change course”, adding: “This is not the path to security and prosperity for the North Korean people.”
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the ballistic missile test and called for greater pressure on Pyongyang.
Speaking on Twitter, he said: “I condemn the new ballistic irresponsible trial of North Korea. It reinforces our determination to increase the pressure on Pyongyang and our solidarity with our partners.”
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said: “The launch was in outright violation of the DPRK’s international obligations, as set out in several UN Security Council resolutions.”
Japan’s UN ambassador Koro Bessho told reporters in New York “we criticise their behaviour in the strongest possible terms”.
US President Donald Trump has long been involved in a furious war of words with North Korea’s despot leader Kim Jong-un, after the hermit state threatened to strike a US airbase on the Pacific island of Guam.
Mr Trump promised to react with “fire and fury”, even claiming he would be happy to “destroy” North Korea if it came to it.
Upon hearing news of North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch, Mr Trump issue a slightly less heated response to Pyongyang.
Trump said “It is a situation that we will handle”, during brief comments at the White House, and said the latest launch does not alter the US approach to the ongoing North Korea crisis.
He added: “We’ll take care of it”.
The White House confirmed the President was briefed while the missile was still airborne as it travelled over the sea between Japan and South Korea before crashing into the waters inside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
At the time of the launch, Trump was in a meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting in New York today after a request from US, Japan and South Korea.
A statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry said today that North Korea only plans to attack “US targets”.
The statement added: “Recently, some policy research institutions and media of the USand other Western countries publicised the so-called ‘merciless nuclear attack plan’ of the DPRK and claimed that the DPRK is planning random and indiscriminate attacks on the US and Asian countries drawing no distinction between military and civilian targets.
“The attempts to defame the dignified image of the DPRK by spreading baseless allegations against it are further increasing our vigilance as they are happening at the time when Trump designated the DPRK as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ after vowing to ‘totally destroy’ it and the moves of the Trump administration to stifle the DPRK are reaching the extremes.
“To make it clear once again, the DPRK’s nuclear force which targets none other than the US is the reliable deterrent to prevent a nuclear war and firmly defend peace on the Korean peninsula by thoroughly eradicating the half-a-century long unilateral nuclear blackmail and threat from the US.”