Trump says talk won’t solve N. Korea problem
President’s tweet dismisses negotiating as a response to the country’s recent test
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed the idea of negotiating with North Korea in response to Kim Jong Un’s latest provocation in test-firing a missile over Japan.
“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!” Trump said on Twitter. Kim on Tuesday said the missile test was a “meaningful prelude” to containing the U.S. territory of Guam, adding he will continue to watch the response of the U.S. before deciding on further action.
Trump said in a White House statement Tuesday that “all options are on the table” and that the test increased “the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world.”
Kim guided the firing of the intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket and urged his military to conduct more such launches into the Pacific Ocean in the future, according to a statement from the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The missile firing was part of “muscle-flexing” to protest annual military exercises being held between the U.S. and South Korea, KCNA said. North Korea had threatened earlier this month to launch missiles over Japan toward Guam, which prompted warnings of retaliation from U.S. military officials.
It was the first North Korean projectile to fly over Japanese airspace since the regime launched a rocket over Okinawa in 2016, and undermines nascent hopes for dialogue over Kim’s weapons programs. That’s after tensions appeared to cool after a war of words between Trump and Kim earlier this month.
In separate calls, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that the test was “was an escalation of North Korean provocations and showcased the dangerous threat posed by North Korea.” The United Nations Security Council said in a statement it “strongly condemns” the launch, The Associated Press reported.