UN strongly condemns North Korea's latest missile launch

South Korea's military is increasing its capability to suppress North Korea threats and recently tested a cruise missile capable of reaching all areas of North Korea, according to Yonhap.

President Trump will meet with the China President Xi Jinping later today and Senator Fischer is confident that the missile tests will be a topic of discussion.

Initial U.S. and South Korean assessments indicated that what North Korea fired was a medium-range KN-15 missile.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed Pyongyang had launched "yet another" ballistic missile.

North Korea's nuclear program was expected to be an important talking point between Xi and Trump. Somewhere on the order of just shy of 90 per cent of North Korea's external trade is with China.

Topping the agenda of the U.S. Meanwhile, regional disarmament talks that provided the North with much-needed aid have been stalled for years.

The new missile could cover all of North Korea even when fired from a southern region of the country, it said.

In a statement, South Korea's presidential Blue House said: "Both sides agreed to pursue. plans in order to substantially strengthen the global community's sanctions and pressure on North Korea".

The president has previously called on China to do more on North Korea, but Beijing has been hesitant to push too hard on Pyongyang.

On the other hand, the North American Aerospace Defense Command stated that North Korea's missile launch did not pose a threat to North America. The missile launch may be a precursor, with more to come as the summit starts Thursday, he said.

On Wednesday, North Korea reportedly launched a ballistic missile from Sinpho, South Hamgyong province, in the direction of the Sea of Japan.

Recent satellite imagery shows possible preparations for a test at North Korea's main nuclear test site, including the laying of communication cables used to initiate a test and collect data. The EU is calling on North Korea to re-engage in meaningful dialogue with the global community and cease its provocations.

South Korea has successfully test launched a new, homegrown 800-kilometer-range ballistic missile.

"They can not stop now and they are under heavy sanctions anyway", said Koh, the professor.

The EU has steadily increased its sanctions against North Korea, the previous move coming in late February with Pyongyang in the spotlight after the assassination at the Kuala Lumpur airport of Kim Jong-Nam, the estranged half-brother of leader Kim Jong-Un.