North Korea Missile Launch A Success, U.N. Meeting Expected

The United Nations is expected to hold a meeting following North Korea's ballistic missile launch on Sunday with Seoul condemning what it called as "serious military and security threats." North Korea fired the medium- to long-range ballistic missile saying it was launched at a high angle to keep it away from neighboring countries.

The North's Korean Central News Agency said that leader Kim Jong Un supervised the missile launch and gave the order to fire the "Pukguksong-2", a Korean style new type strategic weapon system. It is believed to have flown about 500 kilometers before splashing down into the ocean in international waters, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Strategic Command detected the missile launch at 5:55 pm ET Saturday near the northwestern city of Kusong and splashed into the Sea of Japan. This happened as Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the latter saying the North Korea missile launch was "absolutely intolerable."

Abe then called on North Korea to fully comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and claimed that Trump's presence showed determination and commitment of U.S. support. Trump affirmed by saying "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent," as per NBC news. China quickly noted the root cause of North Korean missile launches is friction with U.S. and South Korea. An expert also offered to comment that it is a significant challenge to Trump administration because it has yet to develop policies toward North Korea or its role in the U.N. and its use of economic sanctions.

North Korea has repeatedly called for Washington to abandon its hostile policy and vowed to continue its nuclear and missile programs until the U.S. changes its diplomatic approach. Just days ago, it also reaffirmed its plan to conduct more missile launches. A student in Pyongyang expressed sentiments over the matter saying that North Korea will continue to act the same as long as enemies continue sanctions to suppress them.

The majority of the countries fear the next actions North Korea will pursue hence the request for urgent diplomatic talks with the U.N. on Monday. Its opposing country, South Korea, vows to continue working with allies including the United States, Japan, and the European Union, to ensure a thorough implementation of sanctions over the missile launch. It aims to make the North realize that it will never survive without discarding all of its nuclear and missile programs.