Trump touts U.S. system to Japan
President urges Tokyo to purchase anti-missile batteries
The president recommended anti-missile batteries to Japan as protection from N. Korea.
TOKYO — Wrapping up a visit here before flying to South Korea, President Donald Trump called for Japan to buy U.S. antimissile 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,” Trump said Monday during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump pointedly teased Abe over the trade deficit between the two countries and seemed to advocate a military buildup as a way to close the 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,” 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, 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.”
In the run-up to 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 Trump’s tour of Asia.
Trump was scheduled to land on North Korea’s doorstep Tuesday morning, when he leaves Japan for South Korea to visit troops at Camp Humphreys, an expansive U.S. military base that houses more than 10,000 U.S. soldiers about 40 miles south of Seoul.
He’s slated to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks on trade and finding ways to pressure Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program.
Moon, who was elected on promises to reach out to North Korea, but who has taken a harder line in recent months, was scheduled to hold a news conference with Trump on Tuesday afternoon and host the American president for a state dinner at the Blue House, the presidential mansion in Seoul.
Trump and Abe, who golfed together after Trump’s arrival, spent the second day of the president’s visit in Tokyo having lunch, feeding fish in a koi pond and engaging in lengthy talks concerning North Korea and trade.
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,” Trump said.
Abe endorsed 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.”
Trump called on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to return Japanese citizens Pyongyang has abducted, saying that doing so would be “a tremendous signal” and the “start of something very special.”
Abe has carefully cultivated a friendly relationship with 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 Trump became president.
The relationship got off to “quite a rocky start,” he recalled, because he agreed to meet with the Japanese leader while Barack Obama was still president, bucking a long-standing tradition of presidents-elect staying out of foreign policy matters before being sworn in.
When Abe called to congratulate Trump on his election victory, Trump told Abe to come see him any time he wanted, thinking Abe wouldn’t do so until after the inauguration. But Trump said Abe was persistent and got on a plane to New York.
Some on Trump’s staff told Trump to cancel the meeting, the president recalled.
But it was too late, Trump said, Abe was already in the air.
“There’s no way he’s going to land and I’m not going to see him,” Trump said.
Abe came to Trump Tower and brought Trump a $3,000 driver with a gold-colored head.