OUTRAGE AS NORTH KOREA FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE OVER JAPAN
▶ US president Donald Trump says all options are on the table for response to Pyongyang’s test
World leaders reacted with outrage and alarm yesterday as North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan.
“North Korea’s reckless action is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat to our nation,” Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said.
The missile fell into the Pacific Ocean about 1,200 kilometres off Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
South Korea sent four F-15K jet fighters in bomb-dropping drills in a show of strength ordered by president Moon Jae-in.
Leaders from the UAE, the US, Russia and the European Union called for restraint.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, said “the situation cannot continue to escalate between North Korea on one side and Japan and South Korea on the other”.
“North Korea cannot continue to disregard the UN security council resolutions and the UN’s call to stop its provocations,” Sheikh Abdullah said.
US president Donald Trump warned that “all options are on the table” in terms of a response to the launch. He said North Korea had “signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the UN, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour”.
“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump and Mr Abe yesterday spoke about a response to the test. The White House said the leaders agreed that North Korea poses “a grave and growing direct threat” to the US, Japan, South Korea and the world.
Mr Abe said both nations were in total agreement that there should be an emergency meeting of the UN security council to increase pressure on North Korea after an unprecedented threat. He said Mr Trump expressed his “strong commitment” to defending Japan.
The security council recently voted unanimously to impose tough new sanctions against Pyongyang.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, with National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and Sheikh Abdullah in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Lavrov called on Pyongyang to respect the UN. His deput,y Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia was extremely concerned about the increasing tensions.
Mr Ryabkov said the joint military drills between South Korea and the US, which started on August 21, “had played their role in provoking Pyongyang”.
Tens of thousands of troops are taking part in the two-week Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise on the Korean Peninsula, which the North considers a rehearsal for an invasion. The missile launch was a clear message of defiance over the war games.
The EU condemned the move and joined the call for the emergency security council meeting.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc would look at an appropriate response in line with the security council’s deliberations.
South Korea said the missile was launched from near Pyongyang just before 6am and flew 2,700km, reaching a height of about 550km.
Sirens blared out and text messages warned people in the missile’s flight path to take cover. Trains were delayed as passengers were urged to seek shelter in stations.
Japan has vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory, but it made no attempt to do so yesterday when the missile flew over the country for two minutes.
Residents of Tokyo were worried the capital might not be ready for the worst.
Nursery school teacher Yuki Hiwatari said the missile test was a wake-up call.
“I think about our children,” the 35-year-old mother of two told AP. “An event like this makes me extremely worried about their future. What happened today is becoming part of our daily lives. We need to draw up an emergency plan for a missile launch.”