Trump urges tougher sanctions after North’s missile test

Pyongyang tests boundaries with US and South’s leader

SEOUL // United States president Donald Trump called for tougher sanctions against North Korea after it test- fired a ballistic missile yesterday to test the South’s new liberal president and the US.

“Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea,” the White House said. The missile flew more than 700 kilometres before landing in the Sea of Japan.

It landed “so close to Russian soil the president cannot imagine that Russia is pleased”, the White House said, adding that North Korea “has been a flagrant menace for far too long”.

Russia’s defence ministry later said the missile landed about 500km from its border and posed no threat.

Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Gen H R McMaster, phoned his peers in Japan and South Korea to discuss the situation. China, which has been under growing US pressure to help rein in the nuclear-armed North, called for restraint.

“All relevant parties should exercise restraint and refrain from further aggravating tensions in the region,” the foreign ministry said.

The test drew widespread condemnation, including from the UAE and the European Union, which described it as a threat to international security and stability.

Before the missile test, the US treasury said it was considering “every tool in our arsenal” to cut off sources of international financing for illegal activities in the North.

Several sets of UN and US sanctions against North Korea have done little to deter it from pursuing its nuclear and missile ambitions. Mr Trump has threatened military action but recently appeared to have softened his stance, saying he would be honoured to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong- un under the right conditions.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, has also been conciliatory. But he slammed the missile test as a reckless provocation after an emergency meeting with national security advisers.

Unlike his conservative predecessors, Mr Moon advocates reconciliation with Pyongyang but warned yesterday that dialogue would be possible “only if the North changes its attitude”.

He said in his inauguration speech that he was willing to visit Pyongyang “in the right circumstances” to ease tensions. The North would be willing to hold talks with the US if the conditions were right, a senior official at the North’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The latest test was the North’s first launch since a US missile defence system deployed in the South became operational on May 2.

It follows a failed April 29 bal- listic missile test by Pyongyang. The North has staged two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the start of last year in its quest to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. The US Pacific Command said yesterday’s launch did not appear to be that type of missile.

The missile was fired from a site near the north-western city of Kusong. A test launch from the same site in February sent a missile 500km.