It was only a matter of time before there would be a North Korea missile launch while President Trump was in office. Over the past several years since Kim Jong-un has taken the role as North Korea's supreme leader, there have been purges and defections reported of upper-level leadership, and this too has taken place during the early weeks of the Trump administration.

Following the reports of the North Korea missile launch, were reports on the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam – the brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, which are said to likely be a test for the administration.

At the time of the missile launch, the United States, South Korea, and Japan requested “urgent consultations” with the United Nations Security Council. The last time North Korea launched a missile just like this one, they crashed both into the Sea of Japan.

President Trump's response to North Korea missile launch

President Donald Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House just days before the North Korea missile launch where they both urged the Hermit Kingdom to abandon their missile program. It was also reported that the acting prime minister and president of South Korea, Hwang Kyo-Ahn said that they would punish the North for the incident.

Following this, In a statement made by the UN secretary-general António Guterres, he said that the international community should remain unified in condemning North Korea's actions.

The UNSC voted unanimously to condemn the February 11 missile launch just as they had with previous launches, but the new North Korean ambassador to the United Nations So Se Pyong said at the UNSC on Tuesday that their missile tests were for self-defense and against hostile forces.

The United States and its allies are usually considered hostile forces by Pyongyang. Soon after news of the missile launch, other sources reported on the details about the new missile's capabilities saying that it used solid fuel to launch rather than liquid fuel, in order to reduce the vulnerability of the missile being sighted and hit by another in a pre-emptive strike.

'Dinner theater' for Trump fans

While it's said that the Russian foreign ministry was concerned with the new launch, China was apparently “groaning” over the Hermit Kingdom's missile test once again but said they would be present at the security council meetings which started on Monday night. On Saturday, Feb 11 while at Mar-a-Lago with Abe, according an article on Blasting News, Trump took a classified call while at dinner about the missile tests in front of wealthy attendants who were there to get a peek at the new president as he worked during classified briefings.

Despite the view that Trump was selling “dinner theater” for top-dollar, many of the reports over this incident say that the President was trying to see what he and Abe could do about the threat.

Prior to this on February 2, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was in South Korea, where he said they would respond effectively and overwhelmingly to the North's use of a nuclear weapon, and that they were committed to protecting their allies. But there is also the suggestion that China might want Trump to have talks with North Korea rather than impose more crippling sanctions. Recent reports say that China has banned coal imports from North Korea over their missile launch.

Relationship with Kim Jong-Un remains uncertain

Other reports suggest that the reason for President Trump's lack of a stronger response means that he wants to negotiate with Pyongyang. During his presidential campaign -- to the shock of many, Trump said he would like to sit down with Kim Jong-Un which was interpreted as his willingness to cozy up with dictators, much like his fascination for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

But In a recent press briefing, President Trump told the press he didn't have to tell them how he would respond to the North Korea missile launch, saying that neither should know, only saying they would "take care of it."
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