Trump revived his implied threat of pre-emptive US military action just days after congratulating himself that North Korea's Kim Jong-Un appeared to be "starting to respect" him by holding off on missile firings.
Kim responded not only by resuming test launches, but by choosing a much more dangerous flight path, sending a ballistic missile high over US ally Japan, triggering consternation on the ground and in world capitals.
"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world," Trump said, in a White House statement. "All options are on the table."
Japan and the United States called an emergency meeting of the US Security Council in New York, where Washington's Ambassador Nikki Haley warned that "enough is enough" and that tough action must be taken against Pyongyang.
"It's unacceptable," Haley said. "They have violated every single UN Security Council resolution that we've had, and so I think something serious has to happen."
