Trump arming Japan against N. Korea threat
TOKYO — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday refused to rule out eventual military action against North Korea and declared that the U.S. “will not stand” for Pyongyang menacing America or its allies.
In his first stop of an extended trip in Asia, Trump stood with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a news conference and suggested the U.S. will arm Japan, much as the U.S. has done with allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia. He did not deny reports that he has expressed frustration that Japan did not shoot down a ballistic missile North Korea recently fired over its territory.
“He will shoot ’em out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States,” Trump said of Abe. “He will easily shoot them out of the sky.”
Japan, under its war-renouncing constitution, can shoot down a missile only when it is aimed at the country or in case debris is falling on to its territory.
Some hawkish members of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party say that it may be possible to shoot down a missile headed toward Guam in case it causes existential threat to the U.S. as Japan’s ally, but experts say that is questionable.
Standing in an Asian capital in range of North Korea’s missiles, Trump defended his fiery language, declaring Pyongyang “a threat to the civilized world.”
“Some people say my rhetoric is very strong but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric in the last 25 years,” Trump said with Abe at the news conference.
Abe, who has taken a more hawkish view on North Korea than some of his predecessors, agreed with Trump’s assessment that “all options are on the table” when dealing with North Korean Kim Jong Un and announced new sanctions against several dozen North Korean individuals.
The two men on Monday also put a face on the threat posed by the North, earlier standing with anguished families of Japanese citizens snatched by Pyongyang’s agents.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood with nearly two dozen relatives, some of whom held photos of the missing. Seeking to increase pressure on North Korean leader Kim, Trump pledged to work to return the missing to their families, saying “it’s a very, very sad number of stories that we’ve heard.”