"The president has been briefed on the latest missile test by North Korea," Spicer said in a statement. "With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil -- in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan -- the president cannot imagine that Russia is pleased."

Spicer said the North has been a "flagrant menace for far too long."

"South Korea and Japan have been watching this situation closely with us. The United States maintains our ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the face of the serious threat posed by North Korea," he said. "Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea."

Earlier, US Pacific Command said that the North's missile was fired from the northwestern city of Kusong and landed in the East Sea. Though the exact type of the missile was being assessed, the flight was not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile, it said. (Yonhap)