The U.S. fully backs Japan and stands behind it one hundred per cent following North Korea’s morning ballistic missile test launch, President Trump said at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe late on Saturday night U.S. eastern time.

“I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent,” Trump said from Florida in a short statement, without mentioning South Korea, a point that will likely have concerned leaders in Seoul.

Abe described the missile launch as “absolutely intolerable” and called on North Korea