While condemning the latest missile launch, Portugal has also called for the strict application of sanctions against the North Korean regime.
This comes as the country’s leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons tests targeting the Pacific Ocean, after his nation for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan.
Tuesday’s aggressive missile launch - probably the longest ever from North Korea - over the territory of a close US ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said it was a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that the North first successfully tested in May and threatened to fire into waters near Guam earlier this month.
Mr Kim was present for the intermediate range missile launch over Japan, the agency said.
He expressed “great satisfaction” over the launch which he called a “meaningful prelude” to containing Guam, which is home to key US military bases that North Korea finds threatening.
He said it is “necessary to positively push forward the work for putting the strategic force on a modern basis by conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future”.
The launch seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the US territory of Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan.