Donald Trump on North Korea: ‘all options are on the table’
Donald Trump has said “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched a missile over Japan, and vowed the US and Tokyo were committed to increasing pressure on Pyongyang.
The mid-range missile, which passed over Japan just after 6am local time, was one of the most provocative ever launches by North Korea and sent a clear message to Washington just weeks after Kim Jong-un threatened to target the US Pacific territory of Guam with similar weaponry. Officials in South Korea said the missile may have flown further than any other tested by North Korea.
“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear,” the US president said in a written statement. “This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour.
“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,” Trump said.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had earlier denounced the launch as an “unprecedented and grave threat” to the country’s security. In a 40-minute phone call with Trump the two agreed to call for an emergency meeting of the UN security council to discuss the situation.
“The outrageous act of firing a missile over our country is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat and greatly damages regional peace and security,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, adding that his government had protested to Pyongyang via the Japanese embassy in Beijing. Abe said Japan would “strongly call for increased pressure on North Korea in cooperation with the international community” via the security council.
The launch demonstrated North Korea’s willingness to raise the diplomatic stakes. It has tested more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles this year, but Tuesday’s launch followed a much flatter trajectory than those tests.
The missile, thought to be a new intermediate-range Hwasong-12, flew over Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific about 733 miles (1,180km) east of the northern Japanese island, South Korean and Japanese officials said.
Donald Trump has said “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched a missile over Japan, and vowed the US and Tokyo were committed to increasing pressure on Pyongyang.
The mid-range missile, which passed over Japan just after 6am local time, was one of the most provocative ever launches by North Korea and sent a clear message to Washington just weeks after Kim Jong-un threatened to target the US Pacific territory of Guam with similar weaponry. Officials in South Korea said the missile may have flown further than any other tested by North Korea.
“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear,” the US president said in a written statement. “This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour.
“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,” Trump said.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had earlier denounced the launch as an “unprecedented and grave threat” to the country’s security. In a 40-minute phone call with Trump the two agreed to call for an emergency meeting of the UN security council to discuss the situation.
“The outrageous act of firing a missile over our country is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat and greatly damages regional peace and security,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, adding that his government had protested to Pyongyang via the Japanese embassy in Beijing. Abe said Japan would “strongly call for increased pressure on North Korea in cooperation with the international community” via the security council.
The launch demonstrated North Korea’s willingness to raise the diplomatic stakes. It has tested more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles this year, but Tuesday’s launch followed a much flatter trajectory than those tests.
The missile, thought to be a new intermediate-range Hwasong-12, flew over Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific about 733 miles (1,180km) east of the northern Japanese island, South Korean and Japanese officials said.(Agencies)
