Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump, appearing in a joint press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, strongly condemned [text] a North Korea ballistic missile test. North Korea tested a ballistic missile on Sunday which flew East for about 300 miles until it landed in the Sea of Japan [BBC report]. UN resolutions bar North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile tests. Despite numerous UN sanctions, North Korea tested over 20 missiles [NPR report] last year, but Sunday’s missile test is the first conducted since Trump took office in January. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg [official profile] condemned North Korea’s tests, and urged [press release] North Korea to “refrain from further provocations, halt all launches using ballistic missile technology and abandon once and for all its ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.” South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] also condemned the tests, stating [press release] that North Korea’s actions “pose a direct challenge to the united resolve of the international community.”

Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, announced [JURIST report] in his New Year’s address that the country is in the final stage of preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic rocket. At the start of 2016, the US Congress approved additional sanctions [JURIST report] including the seizure of assets and limitation of commerce in response to reports that North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb [NYT report]. In April of 2016, the UN “strongly condemn[ed]” [press release] North Korea’s testing of missiles and that February, UN Secretary General described North Korea’s missile launching as “deplorable” [JURIST report]. Before leaving office, former US President Barack Obama’s administration expanded sanctions [JURIST report] against North Korea for alleged human rights violations, adding to the list of North Korean officials on the Specially Designated Nationals List.