What provoked this test?

The United Nations Security Council sits to meet on North Korea after their latest missile test, at the U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 4, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Penney – RC13EB881600
Friday’s launch is the latest attempt by North Korea to test the technology the country would need to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the United States.

On Sept. 3, North Korea launched its strongest test yet, deploying what U.S. military officials later characterized as a hydrogen bomb. (It was so powerful, the Washington Post pointed out, it “reshaped the mountain above it.”)

The test “[crossed] a key threshold in its weapons development efforts,” Reuters reported, and prompted the U.N. Security Council to pass a new round of sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime. The new sanctions limited North Korea’s oil supply and banned textile exports, among other restrictions.

Many believe these sanctions prompted Friday’s missile launch. North Korea’s ambassador to the U.N. said they would make the U.S. “suffer the greatest pain it has ever experienced in its history.” But others say the test would have happened with or without action from the U.N.

Tension between the U.S. and North Korea escalated in August after a new report indicated North Korea may have developed a miniaturized nuclear warhead. Trump said he would respond with “fire and fury” if threats escalated from North Korea. North Korea responded by threatening an attack on the U.S. territory of Guam; Trump tweeted the U.S. military was “locked and loaded.”

The State Department said it agreed with Trump’s strategy to pressure North Korea. But many world leaders said the harsh words were aggravating tensions — not easing them.

“I think escalating the rhetoric is the wrong answer,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Associated Press at the time.

What’s next?

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was briefed on the launch Thursday evening.

South Korea has called an emergency meeting of its security council, the Guardian reported.

The launch comes as the U.N. General Assembly prepares to meet next week for its annual summit in New York, where the group will discuss, among other issues, how to deal with the growing threats from Pyongyang.

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