N. Korea thorn for Trump
Hostilities rise as U. S., S. Korea ramp up military drills
WASHINGTON — North Korea’s latest missile tests put new pressure on the Trump administration Monday to identify how it will counter leader Kim Jong Un’s weapons development.
North Korea’s march toward having a nuclear- tipped missile that could reach the U. S. mainland is among the national security priorities President Donald Trump faces. He has vowed that the development of such a missile “won’t happen” but has yet to articulate a strategy to stop it.
Trump spoke Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean acting President Hwang KyoAhn. The White House said the three leaders agreed “to continue close bilateral and trilateral cooperation to demonstrate to North Korea that there are very dire consequences for its provocative and threatening actions.”
A wide array of options are on the table, but aggressive behavior by Pyongyang in response to U. S.- South Korean military drills that began last week could shrink chances for diplomatic engagement.
Foreign capitals have questioned how Trump’s “America First” mantra will translate into foreign policy, and how a new president with no prior experience in government might handle a security crisis.
An administration official said Monday that tougher sanctions, military action and resumption of long- stalled negotiations with North Korea are all under consideration as part of a policy review to provide options for the president within weeks.
The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, did not anticipate an immediate U. S. response to the North’s Monday test- firing of four banned ballistic missiles that South Korean and Japanese officials said flew about 620 miles. Three of the missiles landed in waters that Japan, a close U. S. ally, claims as its exclusive economic zone.
David Wright at the Union of Concern Scientists said the missiles launched Monday were likely either extendedrange Scuds or mediumrange Nodong ballistic missiles that have been tested numerous times before — not an intercontinental missile that threatens America.
North Korea typically reacts with missile tests during the annual military drills that it considers an invasion rehearsal, although Washington and Seoul say they are routine.
Over the seven weeks of last year’s exercises, North Korea conducted nine missile tests, including of submarine- based and intermediate range missiles, but never more than two missiles at once. Five of the tests failed.
This year’s response could be more heated than usual, said Victor Cha, a former White House adviser on Asia. Cha said the tempo of North Korea’s missile tests tends to increase during the drills, when relations with the U. S. worsen. And next week, the drills shift from table- top exercises to military maneuvers.
“I think there are more tests coming,” Cha said.
In Japan, analysts said the launches suggested that North Korea could pose a more serious threat than indicated by previous tests.
“That would mean a lot in terms of the defense of Tokyo, because North Korea might have been conducting a simulation of a ‘ saturation attack’ in which they launch a number of missiles simultaneously in order to saturate the missile defense that Japan has,” said Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
The U. S. and Japan requested an emergency meeting of the U. N. Security Council to discuss the latest missile launches, to take place Wednesday, a U. N. diplomat said, requesting anonymity to speak before the official announcement.
North Korea, meanwhile, urged the council to discuss the U. S.- South Korea exercises, asserting that the drills are driving the region toward “nuclear disaster.”
Today, the U. S. and South Korean militaries said that U. S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up a missile defense system had arrived in South Korea.
The plans to deploy the Terminal High- Altitude Area Defense system by the end of this year have angered North Korea, China and Russia, which see the system’s powerful radars as a security threat.
Washington and Seoul insist that the system is defensive and not meant to be a threat to Beijing or Moscow.
The U. S. military said in a statement that the system is meant to intercept and destroy short- and medium- range ballistic missiles during the last part of their flights.
“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea,” Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U. S. Pacific Command, said in the statement, using an acronym to refer to the defense system.
Ri Song Chol, counselor at North Korea’s U. N. mission, said Kim has said that as long as there are “military exercises in front of the gate of my country,” the North will continue to strengthen its military forces and “pre- emptive attack capabilities.”
Trump’s new national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, spoke by phone Monday with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan- jin, and they agreed to boost cooperation to get the North to face more effective sanctions and pressure, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
“The United States stands with our allies in the face of this very serious threat,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Information for this article was contributed by Catherine Lucey, Matthew Pennington, Mari Yamaguchi, Hyung- Jin Kim, Kim TongHyung and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press and by Motoko Rich, Choe Sang- Hun, Makiko Inoue and Somini Sengupta of The New York Times.