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.

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