By Anandita Mehta
Correspondent
North Korea launched an extended range ballistic missile during the weekend of Feb. 11 that crashed in the East Sea approximately 300 miles from its launch site, according to NBC.
The launch was said to have been done in honor of deceased leader, Kim Jong Il. However, this has been challenged by Yoshide Suga, the Japanese chief cabinet secretary, who claims it was a provocative measure against Japan, according to CNN.
The move may have been a threat to the U.S., which is allied with China and Japan — two countries who do not see eye to eye with North Korea, according to The New York Times.
After an outcry from American U.N. ambassadors like Nikki Haley, as well as others from China and Japan, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s actions as a violation of its previously established resolutions, NBC reported.
President Donald Trump and Shinz? Abe, the prime minister of Japan, issued joint condemnations of their own, according to CNBC.
The same source reported that Trump declared he would stand by Japan, while Abe described North Korea’s missile launch as “absolutely intolerable.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York claimed that the move was meant to test Trump, The New York Times reported.
One of the potential consequences of the launch is to pit the United States against North Korea on the verge of brinkmanship, a state that was last seen during the Cold War, CNBC reported.
The missile only traveled approximately 300 miles before landing in the ocean, but reports from NBC and CNBC indicate that it could travel up to four times this distance.
The launch provided North Korean engineers and scientists with data and information that would help them create intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to CNBC.
North Korean production of ICBMs would speed up the deployment of anti-missile intercept systems from the U.S. as a response to a potential threat, according to CNBC.
