Weeks after President Donald Trump warned North Korea it would face "fire and fury" if it continued to escalate its nuclear missile program, Pyongyang launched another ballistic missile early Tuesday, this time over northern Japan, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The missile launch was confirmed by the Pentagon, which said the military was still assessing the situation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called it a "reckless act," telling reporters he considered the launch over his country to be "an unprecedented, serious, and important threat."



In a statement Tuesday, Trump reiterated that "all options are on the table," and that "threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world."



"The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear," he said. [T]his regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior."



Wednesday, Trump tweeted, "The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!"

Trump and Abe spoke after the launch Tuesday and "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 in a statement.



The United Nations Security Council also strongly condemned the launch Tuesday, and demanded that Pyongyang cease its "outrageous actions" in regards to its missile program.