Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We’re ready for war
US in warning to Kim over latest missile launch Laughing despot says rocket is ‘gift’ to enemies
AMERICA has warned only “selfrestraint” is preventing it from going to war with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions. The threat came after defiant despot Kim Jong-un provoked Donald Trump by joking that this week’s intercontinental ballistic missile test was a “gift” to “American b ***** ds”. Fears also intensified in Washington last night over the rogue state’s military capability after spy chiefs classified the rocket as a new previously unseen weapon. Kim ordered the missile launch on July 4 – Independence Day – leading the US and its South Korean allies to announce a missile drill to counter his “destabilising and unlawful actions”. Yesterday General Vincent Brooks, commander of US troops in Seoul, issued his ominous warning. In a joint statement with South Korea, he said: “Self-restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war. “As this [US and South Korea] missile live-fire exercise shows, we are able to change our choice when so ordered by our alliance’s national leaders. “It would be a grave mistake for anyone to believe anything to the contrary.” The response came hours after Russia and China again called on Kim to stop his missile and nuclear programmes in exchange for the US and South Korea holding off on future large-scale military drills. After Tuesday’s launch, North Korea boasted it was now “a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful intercontinental
ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world”. The secretive state said it could now defend the Korean peninsula and “put an end to the US nuclear war threat and blackmail”. Pyongyang’s test marked a worrying milestone in the country’s attempt to build a nuclear weapon after it was discovered the missile was the first with the ability to reach US soil. US intelligence chiefs confirmed the first stage of the Hwasong-14 missile to be a KN-17 liquid-fuelled type. But military analysts fear the second part of the rocket features new technology that gave the weapon the potential to reach Alaska. US, South Korean and Japanese officials said it flew for about 40 minutes, covering a distance of about 580 miles before landing in the ocean. American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it marked “a new escalation of the threat to the world” before calling on world leaders “to stop a global threat.” It led to a hurriedly convened meeting of the United Nations security council yesterday to discuss potential sanctions against Kim. Speaking on state media, Kim said he ordered Tuesday’s test in response to America’s “attempts to test our determination and ignore our warnings”. Breaking into laughter, the 33-year-old leader “added that we should send them gifts once in a while to help break their boredom”. And he said: “American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary.” Experts last night claimed the US has no viable military option to stop Kim’s nuclear project. Any attempt to do so, they claim, would lead to a
American b ***** ds will not be happy with this gift on the July 4 anniversary KIM JONG-UN TAUNTING AMERICA OVER MISSILE TEST
brutal counterattack against South Korea that would cost an estimated million lives. North Korea has thousands of artillery pieces on the border with the South. They have limited range but can deal devastating damage. Former acting CIA director Michael Morell warned: “There is no good option here. There is no military option here to destroy the nuclear programme or his missile programme. “There is no option that wouldn’t start a second Korean War and wouldn’t raise the possibility of him using nuclear weapons against his neighbours. The risks are extraordinarily high in a military stand-off.” It led to Trump admitting yesterday that his attempts to solve the crisis with diplomacy had so far failed. He also launched a stinging rebuke on China, which he approached two months ago to become a peace broker. Before heading to Warsaw for this week’s G20 summit, Trump tweeted: “Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try.” In London, The North Korean ambassador, Choe Il, was ordered to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down over his country’s provocation. Foreign Minister Mark Field said after the meeting: “I summoned North Korea’s ambassador today to stress in the strongest terms the UK’S condemnation of their latest missile launch. “I call on the North Korean regime to change course and focus on the welfare of its people, instead of the illegal pursuit of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.”