"This launch violates several UN Security Council Resolutions and constitutes a danger to the DPRK's neighbours and the international community," a State Department representative said.
"We are committed to diplomatic engagement with the DPRK," he added.
The representative also stated the US resolve to protect South Korea and Japan, two treaty-bound allies, was "ironclad." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will virtually meet with their Japanese colleagues on Thursday.
President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly said it is open to talks with North Korea, which has pursued a series of mostly low-level projectile launches.
Kim Jong Un met three times with Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, but the extraordinary personal diplomacy brought no enduring accord.
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