China, Russia Condemn North Korea’s Missile Launch

China has voiced opposition to North Korea's test of a reported new ballistic missile more than 24 hours after reports of the launch emerged.

But the country shrugged off suggestions it should be doing more to intervene in the rogue state's military affairs, pinning the test down to Pyongyang's testy relations with Washington and Seoul.

North Korean state media hailed the Sunday test as a success, claiming a previously unpublicized part of the country's arsenal -- a Pukguksong-2, an intermediate-range missile -- was launched under the supervision of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea is prohibited from carrying out ballistic missile launches under UN Security Council resolutions aimed in part at curbing the country's development of nuclear weapons.

China's Foreign Ministry said that his country was opposed to launch activities in violation of the resolutions.

"Under current circumstances, relevant sides should not provoke each other or take actions that would escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing Monday.

"As I have pointed out repeatedly in the past, the root cause to the North Korea nuclear missile issue is the conflicts between North Korea and the United States, as well as between North and South Korea."

North Korea's relationship with China -- its most important ally -- has kept Pyongyang afloat as sanctions have crippled and isolated it from the rest of the world.

But in recent years, China has taken a tougher line on the North Korean nuclear program, voting in favor of UN sanctions and issuing condemnations when it conducts provocative military tests.

This photo from North Korean state media shows the firing of the Pukguksong-2 on Sunday. The split image appears to show the cold-launching system in effect.

Russia's Foreign Ministry also spoke out against the test, the first since US President Donald Trump's inauguration, saying in a statement that it was in "defiant disregard" of UN resolutions.

Russia and China were both members of the Six Party Talks -- a diplomatic attempt to curb North Korea's nuclear program that started in 2003 -- along with the US, Japan, and North and South Korea.

'Clear provocation to Japan'

The United Nations Security Council said it plans to hold consultations on an "urgent basis" Monday afternoon regarding North Korea, according to the US Mission to the UN.

The meeting was requested by the US, South Korea and Japan -- whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was visiting President Trump in the US when the missile was fired and landed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.

Abe said that the test was "absolutely intolerable," while President Trump said that the United States "stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%."

Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said the fact the launch came as Abe met with Trump made it "a clear provocation to Japan and the region." Tokyo has already lodged protests against North Korea via its embassy in Beijing, he said.

CNN