North Korea conducted its latest weapon test on Sunday, defying global pressure from geopolitical powers like the United States, Russia, and China. The test comes amid global pressure on North Korea to reign on its nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile tests and at a time when the newly elected South Korean leader Moon Jae-in said that he would be willing to talk to North Korean counterparts. The US President Donald Trump despite deploying submarines and the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and exerting pressure on North Korea stopped short of calling the North Korean leader mindless like many other global leaders did and said that he would talk to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un if conditions are right. President Trump has urged China, which has a greater influence on North Korea than any other countries in the world to help him secure peace in the Peninsula.

The missile reportedly reached an altitude of 200 km and traveled 700 km, which according to many is a new type of missile and could have traveled 4500 km to reach the US territory if launched at a higher trajectory. According to the United States, which condemned the test, the missile ended in the sea closer to Russia than Japan. However, there are contradictory reports on that. White House released a statement condemning the attack that called all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea. The statement said, “North Korea has been a flagrant menace for far too long ……Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions.” Last week, North Korea made a statement calling countries to not to implement UN sanctions.