North Korea furious at ‘gangster-like’ bombing drills before Trump’s tour
Pyongyang accuses US of ‘frantic nuclear threat’ as president attempts to build support for tougher curbs
NORTH KOREA accused the United States of carrying out a “gangster-like” nuclear drill close to its shores just days before Donald Trump visits the region.
The regime’s news service claimed two B-1B Lancer bombers flew near the Korean peninsula on Thursday and simulated an attack on “major” North Korean targets.
It accused the US of “ceaselessly resorting to their frantic nuclear threat and blackmail” to stop the regime’s weapons programme.
The US Air Force confirmed the incident, which it called a “continuous bomber presence mission”.
The row emerged on the eve of an 11day tour of Asia by Mr Trump that will see him visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Gathering support for a tougher line on North Korea is a key goal for the US president’s longest overseas trip since taking office.
A message released by North Korea’s state newswire, KCNA, announced the flyover by US bombers from the Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, accompanied by fighter jets from South Korea and Japan.
“The gangster-like US imperialists are ceaselessly resorting to their frantic nuclear threat and blackmail to stifle the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] with nukes at any cost,” the message stated.
“The US imperialists are making last-ditch efforts to check the dynamic advance of the DPRK by deploying their nuclear strategic assets in succession, but its army and people are never frightened at such moves.”
Mr Trump is expected to say the world is “running out of time” on North Korea’s nuclear crisis as he meets leaders in Asia over the coming two weeks.
In the first 10 months of the year, North Korea launched 22 missiles, tested a hydrogen bomb and threatened to fire ballistic missiles towards Guam. A report from South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee suggested this week that more tests by the regime may be on the way.
In the run-up to the president’s visit to Asia, Ivanka Trump, his daughter and adviser, yesterday told a Tokyo conference on women’s advancement that harassment of women in the workplace cannot be tolerated.
She spoke at the World Assembly for Women amid growing attention to sexual harassment of women in Hollywood and other industries.
“All too often, our workplace culture fails to treat women with appropriate respect,” she said. “This takes many forms including harassment which can never be tolerated.”
♦ Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has claimed responsibility for a truck attack this week that killed eight people in the deadliest assault on New York City since Sept 11, 2001. The militant group described Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who is accused of the attack, as “one of the caliphate soldiers” in a weekly issue of its Al-naba newspaper.