outrage as kim fires missile over japan

UAE calls it provocative; Trump weighs all options

washington — President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that “all options are on the table” as the United States considers its response to North Korea’s firing of a ballistic missile over northern Japan’s Hokkaido island into the sea.

The test, one of the most provocative ever from the reclusive state, came as US and South Korean forces conduct annual military exercises on the peninsula, angering North Korea which sees them as a preparation for invasion.

North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under Kim Jong-un, the most recent on Saturday, in defiance of UN sanctions, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare.

The foreign ministers of Russia and the UAE urged North Korea to stop its provocations and obey United Nations resolutions.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, they offered a forceful warning for Pyongyang, with Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan particularly calling for North Korea to stop its “provocations.”

Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received North Korea’s latest message “loud and clear”.

“This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour,” Trump said in a statement.

“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table,” he said. —