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International News Title: Trump says Kim Jong-un's message 'has been received loud and clear' and warns 'all options are on the table' following North Korean missile launch over Japan, prompting Seoul show of force President Donald Trump blasted North Korea as a 'grave and growing direct threat' to the world following its latest provocation – a ballistic missile launch over Japan. In a return to the saber-rattling of the last flare up with North Korea, Trump is warning that 'all options are on the table' – an obvious reference to U.S. military might. '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,' Trump said in a statement released by the White House. 'Threatening and destabilizing 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,' he said. His tough words came as North Korea's latest launch, this time of a missile over Japan's northern island, terrified Japanese citizens and caused a sudden drop in financial markets. Weeks ago, Trump had warned that North Korea would face 'fire and fury' if it issued threats to the U.S. The U.S. led an effort for new sanctions against the rogue regime that were approved by the UN Security Council. In the wake of the launch, Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. According to a readout released by the White House, 'The two leaders agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, as well as to countries around the world.' 'President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,' according to the statement. British Prime Minister Theresa May has also condemned the missile launch, ahead of a planned trip to Japan. May, who is flying to Tokyo tonight, branded the 'illegal' launch of the ballistic rocket from the rogue state 'outrageous'. She said: 'We will continue to work with our international partners to put pressure on North Korea to stop those illegal tests and of course, I will have the opportunity on my visit to Japan over the next few days to be discussing those issues with Prime Minister Abe.' Trump and Mrs May's comments followed a warning bySouth Korea that it would 'exterminate' Kim Jong-un if his administration continues to risk the safety of its population. Within hours of Kim's missile launch, South Korea had responded with an 'overwhelming show of force' by bombing a shooting range near its border to the North as part of a military drill, launching footage which contained a stern warning to Kim Jong-Un. Seoul dropped eight Mark 84 bombs with four F15K fighter jets near Taebaek, Gangwon-do province, and released footage of the drill along with a video of its own ballistic missile tests conducted last week. 'If North Korea threatens the security of the South Korean people and the South Korea-US alliance with their nuclear weapons and missiles our air forces will exterminate the leadership of North Korea with our strong strike capabilities,' South Korean Colonel Lee Kuk-no warned in the video. A statement from Seoul later on Tuesday echoed this sentiment, saying South Korea is 'fully ready for any threat from the North'. 'We strongly condemn the North's yet another provocation despite a grave message sent through Resolution 2371 adopted by the international community in the wake of its repeated strategic provocations,' the government said in a statement published by Yonhap news. 'We are fully ready for any threat from the North and will make unwavering efforts to protect the lives of our people and the security of our nation,' it said. The rocket launched by North Korea this morning broke into three pieces off the coast of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean, around 700 miles east of Cape Erimo, after travelling 1,700 miles in eight minutes. Japanese military did not attempt to shoot down the rocket, reportedly a mid range ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload. North Korea's UN ambassador has blamed the U.S. for 'driving the peninsula towards an extreme level of explosion' by joining the South for war drills in the Pacific, calling today's missile test 'justified'. Han Tae Song set to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting in Geneva later today, did not explicitly refer to his country's latest test firing of a ballistic missile that flew over Japan into the sea earlier in the day. 'Now that the U.S. has openly declared its hostile intention towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, by waging aggressive joint military exercises despite repeated warnings. 'My country has every reason to respond with tough counter-measures as an exercise of its right to self defence,' Han told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. 'And the U.S. should be wholly responsible for the catastrophic consequences it will entail.' Dictator Kim Jong-Un is believed to have fired his rocket over Japan because it is the path towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, which he threatened to attack two weeks ago. The new missile managed 1,700 miles before it came down in the Pacific Ocean, a distance which is still some 400 miles short of reaching Guam. Millions of Japanese citizens were woken with texts urging them to move to a 'sturdy building or basement' as the missile passed over its territory at around 6am local time on Tuesday. Residents took cover, while train services across Japan halted, with early-morning commuters told bluntly: 'All lines are experiencing disruption due to missile launch.' Japan's chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said that the missile posed an 'unprecedented, serious and grave threat to our nation', while prime minister Shinzo Abe said that he would do all in his power to protect the Japanese public. Donald Trump has promised 'fire and fury like the world has never seen' if North Korea continued to test missiles and told Mr Abe today he stands '100 per cent behind Japan'. The missile test was branded 'another provocation' and a big concern, by the U.S. official disarmament ambassador to the UN. Washington still needs to do 'further analysis' of the missile that flew over Japan's northern Hokkaido island into the sea, but it will be the subject of today's Security Council meeting, U.S. envoy Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva. 'It's another provocation by North Korea, they just seem to continue to happen. This is a big concern of course to my government and to a number of other governments,' Wood said before a session of the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament where North Korean Ambassador Han Tae Song was to speak. Dictator Kim Jong-Un ignored the US president's warning and fired the rocket from a region near the capital Pyongyang over Japan - the first time North Korea has done this since 2009. The South Korean military said Tuesday it conducted three flight tests of two types of new missiles with ranges of 497 miles and 310 miles on August 24 and that the missiles were close to being operationally deployed. The military released footage of the tests of the longer-range missile that showed the missile being fired from a truck-mounted launcher and hitting a land-based target. South Korea hasn't officially named the missile yet, but it is tentatively called the Hyunmoo-2C. The missile is considered a key component to the so-called 'kill chain' pre-emptive strike capability the South is pursuing to cope with the North's growing nuclear and missile threat. Neighbouring China has responded to the missile launch with a call for restraint from all sides, but warned that tensions have reached a 'tipping point' after U.S. and South Korea went on with their annual military exercises. Television and radio broadcasters broke into their regular programming with a 'J-Alert' warning citizens of the missile launch in the early hours of the morning. Bullet train services were temporarily halted and warnings went out over loudspeakers in towns in Hokkaido. 'I was woken by the missile alert on my cellphone,' said Ayaka Nishijima, 41, an office worker from Morioka, the capital of Iwate prefecture, 180 miles south of Cape Erimo. 'I didn't feel prepared at all. Even if we get these alerts there's nowhere to run. It's not like we have a basement or bomb shelter, all we can do is get away from the window,' she told Reuters. Hironori Matsuura, an official in the coastal town of Erimo, said people were stunned as this is the first time a North Korea missile is believed to have flown over Hokkaido. The town, which has about 4,800 residents, is checking on what went wrong with the speaker system. 'We all woke up,' he said. 'But there are no reports of any damage, and no one had to evacuate.' Hokkaido prefectural official Hirofumi Tsujii said J-Alert was set off throughout the prefecture, and officials were checking on malfunction reports. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would do all in his power to protect the Japanese public. 'We will make utmost efforts to firmly protect the lives of the people,' Abe told reporters in brief remarks as he entered his office for emergency meetings on the missile firing. The country's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, described it as an 'unprecedented, grave threat'. Self-defence forces made no attempt to shoot down the missile as it passed 341 miles above Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, at 6am local time. The eight-minute flight took the rocket 1,678 miles before it hit the sea, 730 miles east of the coast of Japan. It follows a month of escalating hostility between the rogue state and the US, with Donald Trump promising 'fire and fury like the world has never seen' if North Korea continued to test missiles. Last night the Pentagon said it was aware of the launch. Spokesman Colonel Robert Manning said officials had determined that the missile launch did not pose a risk to North America. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson joined in the condemnations, saying he was 'outraged' by the 'reckless provocation' of North Korea's latest missile launch. Japan used its J-Alert system to warn citizens, with a text notification reading: 'A missile was fired from North Korea. 'Please evacuate to a sturdy building or basement.' Local officials said that the missile launch could 'endanger peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region'. Prime Minister Theresa May was today already scheduled to travel to Tokyo for government talks. Mr Suga said that Japan will work closely with the US, South Korea and other concerned nations to take a timely and appropriate response. 'It is also very dangerous and problematic in terms of the traffic safety of planes and ships,' he said. 'The launch is an obvious violation of UN resolutions. 'We cannot tolerate these repeated provocations by the North. We condemn this in the strongest possible way.' Russia on Tuesday said it was 'extremely worried' about the situation in North Korea, hitting out at a 'tendency towards an escalation' after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan. 'We see a tendency towards an escalation ... and we are extremely concerned by the general developments,' Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti state news agency. Tokyo also said the missile overflew Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe describing it as 'an unprecedented, serious and grave threat' to regional security. Ryabkov said the huge joint military drills between South Korea and the United States, which began on August 21, 'had played their role in provoking Pyongyang into this new firing.' Tens of thousands of troops are participating in the two-week 'Ulchi Freedom Guardian' exercise on the Korean Peninsula in a move which the North views as highly provocative, seeing it as a rehearsal for an invasion. North Korea also fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Friday, in apparent retaliation for military exercises involving South Korea, the US and Britain. Two of the rockets in Friday's test, launched just after 9.30pm UK time, travelled up to 150 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan, while the third was said to have blown up almost immediately after taking off. About 30 British servicemen are attending the annual show of strength in South Korea – called Exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian – which includes about 80,000 troops. North Korean state media had warned ahead of the exercise that war games would be 'pouring gasoline on fire' with 'reckless behaviour driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war'. After Mr Trump's 'fire and fury' comments, Pyongyang had vowed a strike on Guam, the US territory in the Western Pacific. Kim's regime said missiles would be fired to hit waters surrounding the island, which is home to US air and naval bases. It followed US intelligence agencies revising their expectations of how soon North Korea would be capable of launching a nuclear attack on other nations. The Defence Intelligence Agency's assessment said that it believed Pyongyang was already capable of producing a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a ballistic missile – a key step towards becoming a fully fledged nuclear power – but there was no conclusive proof. Earlier this month the UN agreed fresh sanctions against North Korea – with the backing of Russia and China – that it was estimated could cost Pyongyang about $1billion (£775million) a year. North Korea previously fired a missile over Japan without permission in 1998. Some analysts claimed had been set off due to a fault. It was reported at the time that the missile could have carried 1,000kg chemical, nuclear or conventional warhead. The United States, Japan and South Korea have requested a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea's actions, diplomats said. The announcement came after a 40-minute phone call between Mr Abe and US President Donald Trump. It was not immediately clear when the meeting of the 15-member Security Council would be held. A statement from South Korea's presidential Blue House added that they had discuss deploying additional 'strategic assets' with the US on the Korean peninsula. A defiant statement from North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun later said: 'The US should know that it can neither browbeat the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] with any economic sanctions and military threats and blackmails nor make the DPRK flinch from the road chosen by itself.' As the missile was launched a warning text was to Japanese citizens, which said: 'A missile was fired from North Korea. Please evacuate to a sturdy building or basement.' A Government statement later read: 'We assess North Korea conducted a missile launch within the last 90 minutes. 'We can confirm that the missile launched by North Korea flew over Japan. We are still in the process of assessing this launch. 'North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America. 'We are working closely with Pacific Command, Strategic Command and NORAD and will provide an update as soon as possible.' Kim Jong Un was warned by Donald Trump that the US was ready to unleash 'fire and fury' this month as North Korea conducted a series of test launches to develop its missile capability. They also threatened to send missiles over western Japan and into waters near the US territory of Guam. Tuesday's launch comes days after the North fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and a month after its second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the US mainland when perfected. It was North Korea's 13th launch of ballistic missiles this year, said Roh Jae-cheon, spokesman for Seoul's joint chiefs of staff. South Korea's foreign ministry warned that the North will face a 'strong response' from the US-South Korean alliance if what it called nuclear and missile provocations continue. The ministry also urged Pyongyang to accept talks over its nuclear programme and acknowledge that abandoning its nuclear ambitions is the only way to guarantee its security and economic development. In a rare move, South Korea's military released footage of its own missile tests that were conducted last week. The videos showed two types of new missiles with ranges of 497 miles and 310 miles being fired from truck-mounted launchers during three tests conducted on Thursday. South Korea's agency for defence development said the launches represented the last flight test for the longer-range missile before it is operationally deployed. Such missiles, which would be latest additions to South Korea's Hyumoo family of missiles, are considered key components in the so-called 'kill chain' pre-emptive strike capability the South is pursuing to cope with the North's growing nuclear and missile threat. North Korea typically reacts with anger to the annual US-South Korean military drills, which are happening now, often testing weapons and threatening Seoul and Washington in its state-controlled media. But animosity is higher than usual following threats by Mr Trump to unleash 'fire and fury' on the North, and Pyongyang's stated plan to consider firing some of its missiles near Guam. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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