President Trump condemned North Korea’s latest provocation of firing a ballistic missile over northern Japan, saying all options are on the table.
“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” the president said in a statement.
Japanese authorities said that it had detected the missile but had not attempted to shoot it down as it flew over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.
“All options are on the table,” Trump said in the statement.
The president has refused to back down in the face of North Korean missile threats against the United States and its allies in the region.
In early August, the president said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury, like the world has never seen.”
In January, North Korea claimed it was in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. Trump responded on Jan. 2 with a tweet stating, “[That] won’t happen!”
The communist regime is believed to have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
In a call Trump held with Japanese leader Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two leaders agreed to increase pressure on North Korea and do their “utmost to convince the international community to do the same.”
Trump expressed his disappointment with China in July, saying that the communist regime had not done anything to help the United States restrain North Korea. China continues to trade with North Korea, providing it with an economic lifeline.
In response to North Korea’s latest missile test, China fell short of condemning North Korea and instead called “for restraint from all sides.”
Russia in its turn called on North Korea to show restraint and to “avoid provocative actions and for the United States and its allies to eschew military escalation.”
The United States, Japan, and South Korea have requested a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the North Korean provocation.
The United Kingdom also expressed its displeasure. “The prime minister is outraged by North Korea’s reckless provocation, and she strongly condemns these illegal tests. From our perspective we will need to continue to work with our international partners to keep the pressure on North Korea,” a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said.
North Korea has made multiple threats in response to annual joint U.S. and South Korean military drills in the region. The United States has an estimated 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea.
Defense Secretary James Mattis described North Korea in June as the “most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security.”
A confidential assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency stated that Kim Jong Un’s regime might have as many as 60 nuclear weapons under his control.
The intelligence assessment also states that the regime has successfully achieved the miniaturization of nuclear bombs, making it possible to fit a nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile.
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