Following the Pyongyang launch, Trump tweeted: "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!"
He did not answer reporters' questions about the missile launch upon returning to the White House from a day trip to Atlanta.
Reports in the US quoted officials saying the test-fire was probably a medium-range ballistic missile called a KN-17, a land based solid-fuel fired from a mobile launcher.
Military analyst John Kirby said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was sending another message to the US and it allies including Australia, which it has threatened with nuclear attack.
"This is Kim giving us the finger. Giving China the finger. Giving the UN the finger. I think timing is absolutely planned and preordained in his mind," he said.
The US military has moved an aircraft carrier strike group into the region, docked a powerful nuclear submarine in South Korea and staged large military drills with South Korea and Japan.
Before the launch, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday in New York called for new economic sanctions on North Korea and other "painful" measures over its nuclear weapons program, warning military action was an option.
"Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences," Tillerson told the UN Security.
"The more we bide our time, the sooner we will run out of it."
This photo released by the North Korean government on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration'. Photo / AP
NK MISSILES 'TARGET US MAINLAND'
North Korea's state media has reiterated the country's goal of developing a nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental US following the launch.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper also said today the North revealed two types of new intercontinental ballistic missiles in an April 15 military parade honouring its late state founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un.
"The large territory that is the United States has been entirely exposed to our pre-emptive nuclear strike means," it said.
Referring to the US sending the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to Korean waters, the newspaper said "rendering aircraft carriers useless is not even a problem" for its military.
It said the North displayed three types of ICBMs during the parade, including two new types that were inside the canisters.
Analysts say the North's existing liquid-fuel ICBMS, including the KN-08 and KN-14, are potentially capable of reaching the US mainland, although the North has never flight-tested them.
The North has been ratcheting up tensions for months with a series of missile launches, including a volley of rockets in early March which saw three fall provocatively close to Japan.
At the time, Pyongyang said it was a drill for an attack on US bases in Japan.
North Korea routinely test-fires a variety of ballistic missiles, despite UN prohibitions, as part of its push to develop a long-range ballistic missile capable of hitting US shores.
While shorter-range missiles are somewhat routine, there is strong outside worry about each longer range North Korean ballistic test.
Japan has condemned the launch as absolutely unacceptable and a violation of UN resolutions.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said he had been in touch with Prime Minister Abe, who is travelling in Europe, and officials were gathering information about the missile test.
He said Japan "cannot accept repeated provocation by North Korea" and had "lodged a strong protest against North Korea".
Japan has become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about the possibility of a North Korean missile attack targeting Japan or US forces stationed in Japan.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, left, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at a Security Council meeting on the situation in North Korea. Photo / AP
UN CALLS FOR UN ACTION ON NK
Addressing the UN Security Council for the first time, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a global campaign of pressure to force Pyongyang to change course and put a halt to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
He said that because China accounted for 90 per cent of North Korean trade, its role was particularly important.
Tillerson also told the UN that the "threat of a North Korea nucler attack on Seoul or Tokyo is real."
Donald Trump has said he would prefer a diplomatic solution, but acknowledged the stand-off is highly dangerous.
"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," he told Reuters.
"We'd love to solve things diplomatically, but it's very difficult." The US has called for stronger UN sanctions on North Korea, but it wants China to take the lead in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis by using its leverage on Pyongyang.
"We are going to be discussing what steps may be necessary to increase pressure on Pyongyang to have them reconsider their current posture," Tillerson said in an interview with Fox News.
Turning to China, Tillerson said: "We are going to test their willingness to help us address the serious threat.
"We were told by the Chinese that they informed the regime that if they did conduct further nuclear tests China would be taking sanctions actions on their own."
Tillerson said the United States is not ruling out direct dialogue with North Korea but that it would seek guarantees that Pyongyang is ready to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.
"Obviously, that would be the way we would like to solve this," he told National Public Radio, when asked whether Washington seeks talks with Pyongyang.
"But North Korea has to decide they're ready to talk to us about the right agenda -- and the right agenda is not simply stopping where they are for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things."
No resolutions will be adopted at the UN meeting, but it will allow the United States and its allies to put the onus on China to use its leverage to rein in Pyongyang.
North Korea is seeking to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five atomic tests, two of them last year.
China, Pyongyang's number one trade partner, has repeatedly called for a return to talks on denuclearisation but has been reluctant to use economic pressure that could destabilise North Korea.
The Security Council has imposed six sets of sanctions on North Korea - two adopted last year - to significantly ramp up pressure and deny Kim Jong-un's regimen the hard currency revenue needed for his military programs.
But UN sanctions experts have repeatedly told the council that the measures have had little impact on Pyongyang because they have been poorly implemented.
