Trump seeks billions to counter North Korean missiles

The Trump administration is seeking nearly $6 billion to pay for urgent missile defence improvements to counter the threat from North Korea, increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan and fast repairs to Navy ships in the Asia-Pacific theatre.

The budget request delivered to Capitol Hill on Monday coincided with tough words for Pyongyang from President Donald Trump during the first stop of his lengthy Asia trip. Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on North Korea by refusing to rule out eventual military action and declaring that the United States “will not stand’’ for North Korea menacing America or its Asian allies.

Trump denounced North Korea as “a threat to the civilized’’ for pursuing nuclear weapons and the development of the long-range ballistic missiles to deliver them.

The spending request designates $4 billion of the total to support “additional efforts to detect, defeat, and defend against any North Korean use of ballistic missiles against the United States, its deployed forces, allies, or partners,’’ according to the document. That includes current and projected threats to the U.S. homeland, Guam, South Korea and Japan.

A large chunk of the money would be used for the construction of an additional ground-based interceptor field at Fort Greely, Alaska; the initial procurement of 20 new ground-based interceptors; ship-based missiles; and interceptors for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, a U.S. mobile antimissile system.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Monday that “all the name calling and all the chest beating’’ by Trump isn’t helpful and may actually be increasing the risks of confrontation with North Korea. Van Hollen said Trump’s rhetoric also serves the interests of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by elevating his status “in an international yelling match’’ with the U.S. president.