President Trump has warned North Korea that China is not going to be happy about its failed missile launch early Saturday. "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today," Trump tweeted. "Bad!" Japan joined the condemnation of what is believed to have been a failed test of a ballistic missile, the Guardian reports. "It is a grave threat to our country," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, describing the launch as a violation of United Nations resolutions. "This is absolutely not acceptable. We strongly condemn such acts."
US officials tell Reuters that Pyongyang appears to have tested a medium-range KN17 missile, which broke up minutes after launch, never leaving North Korean territory. Another US source says it is possible that Trump now will speed up the deployment of more American warships to the region and the implementation of new sanctions. CNN military analyst John Kirby says the message Kim Jong Un was sending with the launch is clear. "This is Kim giving us the finger, giving China the finger, giving the UN the finger," he says. "I think timing is absolutely planned and preordained in his mind." (Trump has warned that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea is possible.)