North Korean missile test fails
Kim’s threatening behaviour can’t go on, McMaster says
SEOUL // North Korea’s “threatening behaviour” cannot go on, the US national security adviser said yesterday after Pyongyang’s latest missile test failed.
“I think there’s an international consensus now, including the Chinese and the Chinese leadership, that this is a situation that just can’t continue”,” Gen H R McMaster said.
North Korea test- fired the missile early yesterday, hours before US vice president Mike Pence arrived in Seoul for talks on curbing Pyongyang’s weapons programmes, but it exploded seconds after launch.
The latest launch came a day after Pyongyang held a defiant mass military parade as fears grew that it may soon conduct another nuclear weapons test.
“The missile blew up almost immediately,” the US defence department said of the launch from near Sinpo on the North’s east coast. The type of missile fired was not clear.
North Korea’s provocation underscored the risks faced by US and South Korean services members, Mr Pence said after landing in South Korea at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia.
“This morning’s provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defence of the freedom of the people of South Korea, and the defence of America in this part of the world,” he said.
“Our resolve has never been stronger, our commitment to this historic alliance with the courageous people of South Korea has never been stronger and with your help and God’s help, freedom will ever prevail on this peninsula.”
Speaking from Afghanistan Gen McMaster said several times that China, North Korea’s key ally, was concerned about the communist state’s behaviour. He said Mr Trump had made clear he would not allow the nuclear-armed Pyongyang regime to put the US and its regional allies under threat.
The consensus is “that this problem is coming to a head”.
“And so it’s time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully,” Gen McMaster said.
He said Mr Trump had directed the National Security Council to collaborate with the defence and state departments, and intelligence agencies, to “provide options and have them ready for him if this pattern of destabilising behaviour continues”. Gen McMaster emphasised Mr Trump’s preference, as with this month’s air strikes in Syria, for unannounced military action. He said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s unpredictability complicated US strategy. Gen McMaster made the case for global action on the issue, including enlisting North Korean neighbour China, given the “brutality” of Mr Kim’s regime. “This is someone who has demonstrated his brutality by murdering his own brother, by murdering others in his family, by imprisoning large numbers of people in horrible conditions for no reason, for political reasons,” Gen McMaster said.
“So this regime has given the world reason for concern. That includes the Chinese people and the leadership as well.”
The White House foreign policy adviser travelling with Mr Pence said the type of missile that North Korea tried to fire yesterday was medium-range, and that it exploded about four or five seconds after launch.
The North regularly launches short-range missiles, but is also developing mid-range and longrange missiles to target American troops in Asia and, eventually, the US mainland.
Yesterday’s high-profile failure will sting in Pyongyang because it came a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year – cel- ebrations of the 105th birthday of late founder Kim Il-sung, the leader’s grandfather.
According to the White House adviser, the test was expected and the US had good intelligence before and after it. He said that had it been a nuclear test “other actions would have been taken by the US”. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year. Satellite data suggests it could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time.