North Korea missile launch: Rex Tillerson calls on China and Russia to take action

China and Russia 'must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own'

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says United Nations Security Council resolutions 'represent the floor, not the ceiling' (AFP/Getty Images)

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on all nations to take new measures against Kim Jong Un's regime after North Korea's latest missile launch.

He said that United Nations Security Council resolutions approved earlier this week "represent the floor, not the ceiling, of the actions we should take."

Mr Tillerson's statement singled out China and Russia, which he said "must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own."

The resolutions prohibit any country from authorising new work permits for North Korean workers and cap Pyongyang's imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labour.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said he talked with Mr Tillerson after the launch and they agreed on the need for the international society to come together to apply pressure on the North to follow the latest UN resolution.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has also scheduled a National Security Council meeting to discuss the launch.

His country's military said the missile was fired from Pyongyang in a continuation of weapons tests following its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date on 3 September.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff that the missile was launched from Sunan, the site of Pyongyang's international airport.

The North last month used the airport to fire a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that flew over northern Japan in what it declared as a "meaningful prelude" to containing the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and the start of more ballistic missile launches targeting the Pacific Ocean.

South Korea's Defense Ministry says the country's military conducted a live-fire ballistic missile drill in response to the North's launch.