manufacture and purchase the weapons systems equivalent to the ones which are possessed or developed by them. reporter: in terms of this launch itself, it was pretty routine, if you want to say that, for what is considered to be an illegal missile launch by north korea in violation of u.n. security council resolutions. at least it is, if the japanese government described it as a ballistic missile, the north koreans have yet to actually officially confirm what they launched from the province, a mountainous region that straddles the chinese border. that is where in 2017 north korea launched an inter-continental ballistic missile which, of course, led to the further tightening of sanctions, further escalation of tensions and the korean detente where there were the face-to-face meetings between kim jong-un and donald trump. that led us back to where we were beforehand. albeit less tense, less nervous on the north korean peninsula. the last time they launched was