Trump warns North Korea after missile fired over Japan
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare
TOKYO/SEOUL: President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that all options are on the table for the United States to respond to North Korea’s firing of a ballistic missile over northern Japan’s Hokkaido island into the sea in a new show of force.
The missile test further increased tension in east Asia as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted annual military exercises on the Korean peninsula, angering Pyong- yang which sees the war games as a preparation for invasion.
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare.
Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received North Korea’s latest message “loud and clear”.
“This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour,” Trump said in a statement.
“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table,” he said.
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke and agreed that North Korea “poses a grave and growing direct threat” to the United States, Japan and South Korea, the White House said.
World stocks tumbled, with Japan’s Nikkei hitting a four-month low before paring losses to end down about 0.5 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened sharply lower before rebounding to trade largely unchanged.
Investors scampered to safe-haven assets, with gold jumping to its highest price since November and the benchmark U.S. 10-year treasury yield dipping to its lowest level since the day after the November 8 U.S. presidential election.
The North Korean missile was likely an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) and further analysis was underway to determine whether it was a success or failure, two U.S. officials said. It appeared to be a KN-17, or Hwasong-12, according to initial data, they said.
The Pentagon said that diplomacy was still Washington’s preferred option with North Korea.
“While all options are on the table, diplomacy is still in the lead,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning told Reuters. North Korea was defiant. “The U.S. should know that it can neither browbeat the DPRK with any economic sanctions and military threats and blackmail nor make the DPRK flinch from the road chosen by itself,” North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The North vows to never give up its weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter hostility from the United States and its allies. In China, North Korea’s lone major ally, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the crisis was “approaching a critical juncture”, but it was also maybe a turning point to open the door to peace talks.
The United States has said before that all options, including military, are on the table, although its preference is for a diplomatic solution.
The United States is technically still at war with the North because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Relations worsened last year when North Korea staged two nuclear bomb tests. Some experts in Asia said Kim was trying to pressure Washington to the negotiating table with the latest missile tests.