However, in the same breath, the secretary said the US still requires North Korea to end its missile and nuclear program. A new resolution was passed by the 15-member Security Council in June, but it only expanded the council's blacklist of individuals and entities and did not introduce any new measures.
On Wednesday Duterte called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a "maniac", "fool" and "son of a bitch".
An Air Force statement said that the test was not a response to recent North Korean actions, but shows that America's nuclear enterprise is "safe, secure, effective and ready to be able to deter, detect and defend against attacks on the United States and its allies".
In a statement to Courthouse News, a State Department representative reiterated the department's concerns over the test and other like it.
"If the United States government says Americans can not come to this country, we don't care a bit", he told AFP in Pyongyang last month.
August 4:China has strongly opposed any unilateral sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea by the United States.
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Last Friday's close encounter between the missile and Air France Flight 293 has raised fears that North Korea's missile tests may pose a threat to airlines operating in the region.
"We have reaffirmed our position towards North Korea, that what we are doing, we do not seek a regime change; we do not seek the collapse of the regime; we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula; we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel", Tillerson said Tuesday. "We hope for an agreement on a draft in the next few days", the diplomat said.
The ARF is a rare multilateral meeting joined by all member states of the long-suspended six-party talks to denuclearize Pyongyang - two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russian Federation. North Korea's nuclear ambitions are expected to be high on the agenda at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional security gathering, and Washington is expected to speak to its partners about what they can do to increase pressure on the regime.
Officials say that anyone now in North Korea that hold a USA passport should leave before the restrictions take place next month - which will remain in effect for one year unless extended or sooner revoked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Observers will look to see if South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha meets her North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, as the Moon Jae-in government has pushed for dialogue with Pyongyang alongside sanctions.
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