N. Korea leader says he’ll wait to decide on test
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday that its military presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch intermediate-range missiles into waters near Guam and “wring the windpipes of the Yankees” by creating “enveloping fire” near the key U.S. military hub in the Pacific.
The comments, while typically belligerent, are significant because they also appeared to signal a path to defuse a deepening crisis with Washington over a weapons program that is seen as nearing the ability to accurately send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland.
During an inspection of the army’s Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Mr. Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Mr. Kim appeared in photos with a map marked by a line between what appeared to be northeastern North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan — apparently showing the missiles’ flight route.
The missile plans were previously announced, and Mr. Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity” and that the U.S. should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. would take out any such missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared that any such North Korean attack could mean war.
Mr. Kim’s comments, however, with their conditional tone, seemed to hold out the possibility that friction could ease if the U.S. made a gesture that Pyongyang considered a move to back away from previous “extremely dangerous reckless actions.”
China probe weighed
Even as he seeks Beijing’s help on North Korea, President Donald Trump asked his trade office on Monday to consider investigating China for the alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property.
Mr. Trump left his vacation at his New Jersey golf club to return to the White House to sign an executive action on the probe. He suggested more steps would be taken against China on trade issues.
Maduro plays up threat
As Vice President Mike Pence tours Latin America this week and tries to play down Mr. Trump’s fiery rhetoric, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is playing up Mr. Trump’s military threats to rally the masses in his troubled nation and, perhaps, rationalize a political crackdown.
Venezuela held “antiimperialist” rallies across the nation Monday to protest Mr. Trump’s assertion last week that he wouldn’t rule out a “military option” to force democratic change in the socialist country.
Iranian drone encounter
An Iranian drone on Sunday made several passes by the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf, the second such incident in a week and described by the Navy as unsafe, unprofessional and dangerous.