N.Korea fires ballistic missile, US says clock has now run out

Trump told Abe the United States supports its ally Japan 100 percent, Hagiuda said.

Trump pledged to label China a currency manipulator on the first day of his administration, but so far has refrained.

Trump is likely to urge China’s leader to take up stronger role in pressuring the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and Tillerson’s statement is a way of stressing it’s time for action on North Korea, not just talk, Bong said.

Trump plans to discuss the growing threat posed by North Korea during his first meeting with Xi this weekend at his Florida country club Mar-a-Lago.

Trump “is making it seem like we are prepared to go to war or use military action. and I don’t think that is going to be viable”, said Kurt Campbell, top USA diplomat for the region during former President Barack Obama’s first term.

“It is still too early to discuss whether the launch was a success or failure and whether the missile flied normally”, said the official.

“We have a relationship with the Chinese that is based on cooperation and candour”. A senior White House official told reporters on Tuesday that (quote) “the clock is very, very quickly running out” on North Korea and that “all options are on the table”.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had a terse response.

Susan Thornton, the top US diplomat for East Asia, on Wednesday called North Korea “an urgent and global threat”.

Did North Korea really want to steal the show ahead of the Trump-Xi summit?

Trump told the Financial Times newspaper that the U.S.is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea’s nuclear program.

“I’m not going to pre-speak the president’s talking points, but human rights are integral to who we are as Americans”, the senior official said. “The quest for effective policy levers is further complicated by the deeply intertwined nature of the USA and Chinese economies in which neither country stands to gain from economic difficulties in the other”.

According to NBC, North Korea is estimated to have upward of eight nuclear weapons but has not demonstrated the ability to attach them to a long-range rocket, an ICBM, capable of hitting the US.

“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile”. A man watches a TV news program showing a file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Beijing is concerned that the missile defence system could be used to spy on China’s activities, rather than to monitor North Korea’s missiles. The country previously conducted a missile test in February, and several in 2016. “Talks deserve another chance and peace is still within our grasp”. North Korea sees the drills as an invasion rehearsal.

“This administration is unprecedentedly unstaffed to be going into a summit with our major strategic rival in the world”, said Stapleton Roy, a former US ambassador to China, Indonesia and Singapore and now a distinguished scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington.”Who in the administration at the present time has a grasp of all these things?” “Our priority now is to flash the red light and to apply brakes on both trains”, he said.

Abe also told reporters at his official residence that he was watching to see how China would respond to Pyongyang after President Xi Jinping meets with Trump at the United States leader’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Days before the 2013 inauguration of South Korea’s then-President Park Geun-hye, the North conducted its third nuclear test, making world headlines again and inviting toughened United Nations sanctions. “We are rapidly and dangerously moving towards a military option”.

Trump has delighted in warmly welcoming his guests on his frequent visits to what he calls the “winter White House”, shaking hands with them as they enter and doing the rounds of each table at formal daily dinners.

Analysts said a military strike would be the President’s riskiest move, because of the potential for North Korea to attack Seoul, or the 28-thousand American troops near the demilitarized zone.

It was a signal the old rules of dealing with North Korea – a policy known as “strategic patience” – are out the window. This is President Trump’s first face to face meeting with the Chinese President. “Bill Clinton seriously considered airstrikes against Pyongyang’s missile programme in 1994”.