China is leaning on North Korea over missiles, says US president

Trump refuses to rule out military response to launch

SEOUL // President Donald Trump believes China’s president has been putting pressure on North Korea as it pursues its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Speaking to the Face the Nation programme on CBS network, Mr Trump said he would not be happy if North Korea conducted a nuclear test and he believed Chinese president Xi Jinping would not be happy either.

Asked if that mean t military action, Mr Trump said: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.”

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile apparently failed shortly after launch, the third test-fire flop this month, but a clear message of defiance.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations as they are regarded as part of the North’s push for a nuclear missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

The launch comes as South Korea and the US ended their annual large-scale military drills yesterday, but continued a separate joint naval exercise that has triggered dire threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

The massive Foal Eagle drill, which the defence ministry in Seoul said was ending yesterday , involved a bout 20,000 South Korean troops and 10,000 US servicemen.

Mr Trump sent a nuclear-powered submarine and the USS

Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to Korean waters and North Korea last week conducted large-scale, exercises on its eastern coast. The US and the South also started installing a missile defence system that is supposed to be partially operational within days.

Residents in the village of Seongj, where the missile system is being installed, scuffled with police yesterday. About 300 protesters confronted 800 police officers and succeeded in blocking two US army oil lorries from entering the site.

A few residents were injured or fainted in the stand-off, and were taken to a hospital. The Terminal High- Altitude Area Defen ce system, or Thaad, remains controversial in South Korea and presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in has vowed to reconsider its installation if he wins the election on May 9.

He has said that the security benefits of Thaad would be offset by worsened relations with China, which is the country’s biggest trading partner and is opposed to its deployment.

North Korea did not immediately comment on its latest missile launch, although its state media on Saturday reiterated the country’s goal of being able to strike the continental US.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile flew for several minutes and reached a maximum height of 71 kilometres before it apparently failed.

The South did not provide an estimate on how far the missile flew but a US official, said it was likely to have been a medium-range KN-17 ballistic missile.

It broke up a few minutes after the launch.

Residents in the village of Seongj, where the missile system is being installed clashed with police