朝鲜承认发射了一枚飞跃日本的弹道导弹，说这是为对抗正在进行的美韩联合军事演习。
朝鲜官方通讯社朝中社星期三早上的报道引述朝鲜领导人金正恩的话说，这次试射火星12中程弹道导弹“好像一场真正的战争”，是朝鲜在太平洋军事行动的第一步，也是“遏制关岛实质性的前奏”。
韩国总统文在寅和日本首相安倍晋三星期三电话交谈后一致同意，需要对朝鲜施加最大限度的压力，迫使朝鲜就目前的危机进行对话。
韩国总统府发言人朴寿铉说：“文在寅总统表示，发射中程弹道导弹飞跃日本领空不是简单的的挑衅，而是对一个邻国的暴力行动。”
中国外长王毅星期三告诉记者说，中国正在跟联合国安理会其它成员国合作，希望这一努力有助于和平解决核危机。
朝鲜试射导弹后，美国总统川普星期二早些时候发表声明说，“任何选项都在桌面上”。
川普在白宫发表的声明中说：朝鲜表现出了“对邻国的蔑视，对联合国所有成员国的蔑视，对最起码的国际行为准则的蔑视。”
川普星期二早上在白宫登上直升机前，美国之音记者问他打算对朝鲜采取什么措施，川普回答说：“我们等着瞧，我们等着瞧”。
美国常驻联合国大使黑利星期二在联合国安理会紧急会议上说，平壤违反了每一项联合国安理会决议案，国际社会一致反对朝鲜的行动。
黑利说：“朝鲜政权现在应该认识到，他们将自己置于危险境地。美国不会允许他们这样继续无法无天，世界上其它国家也站在我们一边。”
中国和俄罗斯常驻联合国大使都强调，这个问题没有军事解决方案。
安理会召开了两个小时的闭门会议，讨论朝鲜问题，会后发表声明，对朝鲜最近的导弹试射提出“强烈谴责”。
安理会本月的轮值主席，埃及常驻联合国大使阿布勒阿塔说：“安理会进一步谴责朝鲜肆无忌惮的行动，并要求朝鲜立即停止所有这类行动。”
联合国安理会还要求朝鲜不能进行更多的弹道导弹试射，并全面遵守若干项安理会决议案的规定，包括8月5日刚刚采纳的决议案。这种要求似乎一定会被朝鲜无视。媒体报道朝鲜领导人金正恩说，朝鲜应该向太平洋试射更多的导弹。
美国情报官员说，他们看不到平壤会被制止的迹象。
其中一名官员以不透露姓名为条件对美国之音说，“朝鲜在2016年以来进行前所未有的频繁试验，从他们的藐视行为中我们看不出任何变化。”
美国国防官员说，朝鲜星期二在平壤附近一个空军基地发射的导弹落入了日本以东930公里处的太平洋水域。
North Korea has acknowledged firing a ballistic missile over Japan, saying it was to counter current joint exercises by South Korea and the United States.
In a Wednesday morning dispatch from Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted leader Kim Jong Un saying the drill for the launch of the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile was “like a real war” and the first step by North Korea’s military for operations in the Pacific and “a meaningful prelude to containing Guam.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe agreed in a phone call Wednesday that maximum pressure needs to be applied in order to get North Korea to engage in dialogue to resolve the ongoing crisis.
“President Moon said that launching an intermediate range ballistic missile to fly over Japan’s airspace was not a simple provocation, but violent conduct to a neighboring country,” South Korean presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters Wednesday that China is working with the other members of the U.N. Security Council and hopes those efforts can help peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis.
President Donald Trump said in a Tuesday statement that “all options are on the table” following the latest North Korean missile launch.
North Korea “has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.
Asked by VOA what he plans to do about North Korea, before boarding a helicopter at the White House Tuesday morning, the president replied, “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
Speaking during an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council Tuesday evening, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Pyongyang has violated every single U.N. Security Council resolution and the world is united against its actions.
“It is time for the North Korean regime to recognize the danger they are putting themselves in,” Haley said. “The United States will not allow their lawlessness to continue, and the rest of the world is with us.”
Both the Chinese and Russian envoys emphasized that there is no military solution to the issue.
The Security Council held two hours of closed consultations on the situation and then issued a presidential statement that “strongly condemns” the recent launch.
“The Security Council further condemns the DPRK for its outrageous actions and demands that the DPRK immediately cease all such actions,” said Egyptian ambassador Amr Aboulatta who is council president this month. He referred to North Korea by its official acronym.
The council also demanded that Pyongyang not conduct any further ballistic missile launches and comply fully with its obligations under numerous council resolutions, including the most recent, adopted on August 5. That demand looked set to be ignored as media reported that the North Korean leader said the country should conduct more missile tests into the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. intelligence officials said they see few signs that Pyongyang is likely to be deterred.
“North Korea has been conducting an unprecedented level of testing since early 2016 and we have not seen anything in their defiant posture to suggest that has changed,” one official told VOA on condition of anonymity.
U.S. defense officials said the North Korean missile, launched Tuesday from an air base near Pyongyang, landed in the Pacific Ocean, about 930 kilometers east of Japan.