UNITED NATIONS

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday strongly condemned North Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch.

Guterres called on Pyongyang to fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The UN chief urged North Korea to resume dialogue without preconditions leading to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea on Wednesday fired a long-range ballistic missile into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the South Korean military.

The missile came down in what South Korea calls the East Sea and Tokyo calls the Sea of Japan.

Both South Korea and Japan denounced the latest ballistic missile launch with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol warning that Pyongyang will be made to pay a price for carrying out an illicit ballistic missile launch.

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, called the latest missile launch a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, saying it was "totally unacceptable."

Last month, North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast in response to military drills staged by the US and South Korea.

The latest launch came just a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong warned that Pyongyang would take "clear and resolute" action against US surveillance flights within the North's "economic water zone."

So far this year, Pyongyang launched 12 missiles including the intercontinental ballistic-class Hwasong-15, Hwasong-17, and Hwasong-18 missiles, according to NHK.

North Korea in May also launched its first military spy satellite, which crashed into the West Sea of Korea.