USA TODAY International Edition
Missile launch tests Trump
Ballistic missile test comes after president calls thwarting rogue nation ‘ very, very high priority’
North Korea missile seen as provocation
North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test triggered swift condemnation Sunday from the international community as the hermit nation’s move challenges President Trump in his first month in office.
South Korea’s defense ministry quickly charged in a statement that Kim Jong Un’s missile launch — probably a medium- or intermediate- range missile — was “aimed at drawing global atten- tion to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities.”
“It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new U. S. administration under President Trump,” the defense ministry said.
The launch came as Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar- a- Lago estate in Florida. Trump and Abe made a joint appearance Saturday night to condemn the launch just hours after the missile test was confirmed, with Abe calling it “absolutely intolerable.”
Trump said only “that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%.” Still, the president’s policy adviser, Stephen Miller, told Fox News Sunday that Trump is sending an “unmistakable signal to North Korea and to the entire world.”
Miller said Trump is determined to “reinforce and strengthen our vital alliances in the Pacific region as part of our strategy to deter and prevent the increasing hostility that we’ve seen in recent years from the North Korean regime.”
David Straub, head of the State Department’s office of Korean affairs from 2002 to 2004, said Trump’s comments were puzzling for their lack of substance, particularly after he criticized Kim’s talk about testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
“It looked both weak and incompetent,” Straub said. “Well, the most affected by this is our allies in South Korea, and he didn’t say a word about South Korea. It’s an incredible omission, and it will be noted by the South Koreans.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged North Korea “to re- engage in a credible and meaningful dialogue with the international community.”
The test by Kim — who has plainly stated his nuclear ambitions — offered his first provocation of the year.
The U. S. Strategic Command said it detected and tracked what it assessed to be a medium- or intermediate- range missile that traveled about 300 miles and splashed into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The launch came less than two days after Trump, with Abe by his side, said Friday that defending against nuclear and missile threats from North Korea was a “very, very high priority.”