Trump calls on Japan to counter threat of missiles from North Korea
Tribune News Service
TOKYO — Wrapping up a visit here before flying to South Korea, President Donald Trump called for Japan to buy U.S. anti-missile batteries to counter the growing ballistic missile threat from North Korea, saying buying more U.S. military equipment would create more jobs for Americans and increase security for the Japanese.
“He will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of a lot of military equipment from the United States,” Mr. Trump said Monday during a news conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, drawing an explicit link between trade and security.
Mr. Trump pointedly teased Mr. Abe over the trade deficit between the two countries, and seemed to advocate a military buildup as a way to closet he gap.
“It’s a lot of jobs for us, and a lot of safety for Japan, and other countries that are likewise purchasing military equipment from us,” Mr. Trump said. At another point, he complimented the Japanese economy, but said: “I don’t know if it’s as good as ours. I think not. OK? We’re going to try to keep it that way.And you’ll be second.”
The Japanese government already buys a lot of U.S. military hardware, Mr. Abe said, but he agreed that the country should “enhance our defense capability.”
“Missile defense is something based on cooperation between Japan and the U.S.,” he said. “If it is necessary” to shoot down a missile, “of course we will do that.”
The president refused to rule out eventual military action against the north and exhorted dictator Kim Jong Un to stop weapons testing, calling the recent launches of missiles over Japanese territory “a threat to the civilized world and international peace and stability.”
“We will not stand for that, ”Mr. Trump said.
In the run-up to Mr. Trump’s visit to Asia, Japanese media reported that the president had told other world leaders he did not understand why Japan, which he reportedly referred to as a country of “samurai warriors,” had not shot down a North Korean missile that flew over the nation’s territory in September. U.S. and Japanese military officials are concerned that North Korea may launch a similar provocation during Mr. Trump’s tour of Asia.
The two leaders, who golfed together after Mr. Trump’s arrival, spent the second day of the president’s visit having lunch, feeding fish in a koi pond and engaging in lengthy talks concerning North Korea and trade.
Mr. Trump sounded notably hoarse as he spoke. He is scheduled to visit five countries during the course of his 12-day trip.
“You have a very, very aggressive, tough prime minister. That’s a good thing by the way, not a bad thing,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Abe endorsed Mr. Trump’s skepticism of talks with North Korea.
“For more than 20 some years, the international community attempted dialogue with North Korea,” he said. “Now is the time not for dialogue but for applying a maximum level of pressure on North Korea.”
The two also met with families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, some of whom were kidnapped whenthey were children.
“No child should ever be subjected to such cruelty,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump called on Mr. Kim to return Japanese citizens Pyongyang has abducted, saying that doing so would be “a tremendous signal” and the “start of something very special.”
Mr. Abe has carefully cultivated a friendly relationship with Mr. Trump. At a lavish dinner thrown in his honor, the president told the story of how the two leaders first met one year ago, before Mr. Trump became president.
When Mr. Abe called to congratulate Mr. Trump on his election victory, Mr. Trump told Mr. Abe to come see him any time he wanted, thinking Mr. Abe wouldn’t do so until after the inauguration. But Mr. Trump said Mr. Abe was persistent and got ona plane to New York.
Some on Mr. Trump’s staff told Mr. Trump to cancel the meeting, the president recalled, but Mr. Abe was already in the air.
“There’s no way he’s going to land and I’m not going to see him,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Abe came to Trump Tower and brought Mr. Trump a $3,000 driver with a gold-colored head.
From that moment on, Mr. Trump said, “we developed a really great relationship.”
Still, all the apparent chumminess between Mr. Trump and Mr. Abe hasn’t resulted in much concrete action to address Mr. Trump’s main complaint: what he sees as an unfair trade relationship with Japan.
Throughout Mr. Trump’s two-day visit, Mr. Abe publicly ducked any talk of major trade concessions even though Mr. Trump kept bringing it up.