North Korea test-fires ballistic missile as Trump and Abe meet
North Korea conducted tests of its ballistic missile capabilities early on Sunday morning, as the US President Donald Trump met with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The missile landed in the Sea of Japan and was fired from an area in the west of the secretive country according to South Korean officials.
Abe said the launch was "absolutely intolerable" at a joint press conference with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
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"North Korea must fully comply with the UN Security Council resolutions. In my meeting with President Trump, he assured me the United States is always wth Japan, 100 per cent."
He said they would both work together on promoting collaboration between the two nations.
"I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the US stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 per cent," said Trump.
The firing is the first since Trump became President but last year the communist state conducted more than 20 missile tests and two nuclear tests.
The President promised to protect South Korea from the North in a call with his counterpart in the country, Park Geun-hy, after winning the US election in November.
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South Korea's defence ministry said in a statement: “It is believed that today’s missile launch … is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities."
“It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US administration under President Trump.”