Abe, who is visiting the United States, and Japan were likely the main audience for North Korea’s Sunday missile launch.

“This is clearly directed at Japan,” said Carl Schuster, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.

Though South Korea worries about any developments in Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear capabilities, experts note that the rhetoric from the North has been much quieter and less hostile since the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

“For the last month or so they’ve been very careful not to do things that could be provocative in South Korea,” former US Ambassador Christopher Hill told CNN. “The usual betting is when North Korea provokes in this kind of way, the harder line, the right-of-center, tends to benefit in (South) Korea.” Abe called the test “absolutely intolerable,” while Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was “a clear provocation to Japan and the region.” South Korean officials say analysis suggests the missile is a modified intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), a Musudan-level missile.