United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security CouncilReuters

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile test, AFP reported.

Backed by China, Pyongyang's main ally, the council agreed on a U.S.-drafted statement describing the test-firing of the missile as a "grave violation" of UN resolutions and threatening "further significant measures."

The council met behind closed doors at the request of the United States, Japan and South Korea after Pyongyang announced it had successfully tested a new missile on Sunday, the first launch since President Donald Trump took office.

The latest missile was launched from the western city of Kusong and flew east for about 500 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), South Korea's defense ministry said.

The test came a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). State media later said such a launch could come “at any time”.

The missile launched in the latest test, however, did not appear to be an ICBM.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called on the council to "use every available resource to make it clear to the North Korean regime - and its enablers - that these launches are unacceptable.

"It is time to hold North Korea accountable - not with our words, but with our actions," she said in a statement quoted by AFP.

UN resolutions bar North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests, but it conducted two nuclear tests last year, in defiance of UN sanctions.

The Security Council has imposed six sets of sanctions since Pyongyang first tested an atomic device in 2006.

Enforcing those measures is key to changing Pyongyang's behavior, Japan's Ambassador Koro Bessho said, cautioning that "it takes time."

"We need to keep on pushing. We are not looking for a military solution," he said, according to AFP.

At a Washington news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a few hours before the council meeting, Trump described North Korea as a "big, big problem" and vowed "we will deal with that very strongly."

He did not specifically mention the missile test, nor did he elaborate on what steps he planned to take.