Trump: 'Russia Ready for War' After North Korea Nuclear Missile Launch

© Press

Hours after North Korea launched its latest missile test on early on Sunday morning, the international community has moved to once again condemn the despot nation’s hostile threats.

The White House released a statement, which read: "With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil - in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan - the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.”

It also urged for nations to implement greater sanctions against Pyongyang in a bid to rein in its nuclear weapons and missile development programs.

While Russian officials have not yet reacted to the launch, South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers have held talks to discuss the latest missile threat to the region.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said: "We will continue to closely coordinate with the United States and South Korea to respond to the North Korea situation.”

He also confirmed that Shotaro Yachi, Abe’s top security adviser, had spoken to US national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

The latest missile launch is believed to have been used to test South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-in, who was only sworn in on Thursday.

The South Korean presidential office, known as the Blue House, said Moon “strongly condemns” the latest missile launch.

Moon Young-chan, the Blue House’s press secretary, said: "The president said while South Korea remains open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, it is only possible when North Korea shows a change in attitude.”

The missile reached an altitude of more than 1,245 miles (2,000km) and is estimated to have fallen in the sea of Japan, around 250 miles (400km) from the North Korean coast.

The US Pacific Command said it was assessing the missile launch but confirmed it was "not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile”.

Experts have claimed the test shows North Korea has weapons with a considerably longer range than those previously launched. 

Missile expert David Wright said if the missile had been fired at a standard trajectory, it would have had a maximum range of about 2,800 miles (4,500km).

(h/t) Express