Leaders prepare as N. Korea flashpoint emerges
WASHINGTON — The world on Monday was bracing for a possible North Korean nuclear test ahead of another key anniversary and potential flashpoint in Pyongyang.
President Donald Trump was working the phones, speaking to his counterparts in China and Japan. Also, America’s U.N. envoy warned of a strike if Pyongyang attacks a U.S. military base or tests an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarine reportedly was nearing the Koreas.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged restraint in his call to Mr. Trump, and implored Washington and Pyongyang to meet each other halfway — requests seen as reflecting growing alarm over North Korea’s plans, which could tip the region into crisis.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded North Korea stop repeating “dangerously provocative actions” and pledged to “respond resolutely.”
The phone calls with Mr. Trump came amid signs Pyongyang could soon conduct its sixth nuclear test explosion since 2006, or the latest in a
rapid series of missile tests, further advancing its ambitions of developing a nucleartipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland.
In Washington, the Trump administration in an unusual move invited the entire 100member Senate for a briefing Wednesday on the escalating crisis. Adding to the atmosphere of animosity, officials hours earlier said North Korea has detained a third U.S. citizen.
Mr. Trump told ambassadors from U.N. Security Council members that the status quo in North Korea is “unacceptable” and the council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions.
North Korea is seen as posing one of the sternest national security challenges facing the 3-month-old Trump administration. The administration has settled on a strategy emphasizing increased pressure on North Korea with the help of China, rather than trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s isolated government or use military force. But officials have repeatedly said “all options” remain on the table.
Earlier, North Korea’s official news agency reportedly warned China of “catastrophic consequences” for their relationship if economic sanctions continued.
Elsewhere, the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and ships in the strike group accompanying it — an “armada,” as Mr. Trump puts it — are continuing to move toward the South Korea region, after completing a short naval exercise with Japanese ships in the Philippine Sea. But the ships are probably several days from arriving in the region.
In addition to the Carl Vinson, the USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine, is due to arrive Tuesday on a routine port visit at Busan, South Korea, a U.S. defense official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the past two days, the North Korean state media, including the main Workers’ Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, has warned that the North was ready to turn the Carl Vinson into a “great heap of scrap metal” and “bury it in the sea.”
Tuesday marks the founding anniversary of North Korea’s armed forces. It has marked such dates in the past with displays of its military capabilities. Commercial satellite imagery suggests the North has been readying for weeks for an underground atomic explosion that potentially could generate a Hiroshima-size explosion, and could conduct one at any time.
Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump’s U.N. ambassador, said Monday the U.S. wasn’t looking for a fight with Mr. Kim and wouldn’t attack North Korea “unless he gives us reason to do something.”
Ms. Haley told NBC’s “Today” that “if you see him attack a military base, if you see some sort of intercontinental ballistic missile, then obviously we’re going to” take action.
But asked what would happen if North Korea tests an intercontinental missile or nuclear device, Ms. Haley said, “I think then the president steps in and decides what’s going to happen.”