Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan, less than two weeks after its most powerful nuclear test ever.
U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that China and Russia must take « direct action » against North Korea after Pyongyang early Friday fired a missile over Japan, less than two weeks after its most powerful nuclear test ever.
The missile flew farther and higher than a rocket North Korea fired over Japan last month and creates new tension in the region as it confirms Pyongyang’s defiance in the face of a new round of international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs.
« China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor. China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own, » Tillerson said in a statement.
He said that the missile launch, which comes just days after the United Nations Security Council stepped up sanctions against the country, would « only deepen North Korea’s diplomatic and economic isolation. » The United Nations Security Council was expected to meet Friday afternoon in New York to discuss a response to the launch.
According to South Korea’s military and Japan’s government, the missile was fired from Sunan, near North Korea’s capital, in an eastward direction over Japan.
