TOKYO/SEOUL, Aug 29 (Reuters) - North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan's northern Hokkaido island into the sea on Tuesday, prompting a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that "all options are on the table" as the United States considers its response.
The test, one of the most provocative ever from the reclusive state, came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military exercises on the peninsula, angering North Korea which sees them as a preparation for invasion.
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under young leader Kim Jong Un, the most recent on Saturday, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare.
Trump said the world had received North Korea's latest message "loud and clear".
"This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour," Trump said in a statement released by the White House.
"Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table."
Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two agreed that North Korea "poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, as well as to countries around the world", the White House said. READ MORE
