The White House is calling North Korea a \u201cflagrant menace\u201d following the test launch of a ballistic missile, the seventh such firing this year.<\/b>
\nThe White House is calling North Korea a \u201cflagrant menace\u201d after the test launch of a ballistic missile, the seventh such firing this year.
President Trump was briefed on the missile test, according to a statement the White House released late Saturday. The missile firing took place Sunday, North Korea time, with the projectile landing in the sea between North Korea and Japan.
\u201cThe United States maintains our ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the face of the serious threat posed by North Korea, \u201d the statement said.
Washington and its allies will continue to \u201ctighten the screws\u201d on North Korea\u2019s mercurial leader Kim Jong Un, said Nikki Haley, the U. S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Speaking to ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week, \u201d Haley said Kim is \u201cin a state of paranoia\u2026 incredibly concerned about anything and everything around him.\u201d
The White House statement called for stronger sanctions against the North but did not directly threaten U. S. military action. Trump has said that bellicose actions by Kim\u2019s government could trigger \u201cmajor, major conflict.\u201d
North Korea\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency said the country tested a new type of long-range missile \u201ccapable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead.\u201d Kim was reported to have witnessed the launch and \u201chugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing.\u201d
The test firing, against a backdrop of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, came four days after South Korea\u2019s new president, Moon Jae-in, took office. Moon has called for outreach to Kim.
Moon, according to his office, called the launch a \u201cclear violation\u201d of U. N. Security Council resolutions. The Security Council was to meet Tuesday to discuss the launch, diplomats said.
In its statement, the White House appeared to call indirectly for Russian support in containing Kim\u2019s nuclear ambitions, suggesting they posed a threat to Russia as well.
\u201cWith the missile impacting so close to Russian soil \u2014 in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan \u2014 the president cannot imagine that Russia is pleased, \u201d the statement said.
Russia, a onetime ally of North Korea, is a member of a six-nation consortium aimed at reining in the reclusive nation\u2019s nuclear program through diplomatic and financial incentives, but that forum has been inactive for nearly a decade.
Russia\u2019s Interfax news agency cited military officials as saying that the missile had posed no danger to its territory. It said the projectile was tracked by Russian antimissile defenses during its 23-minute flight before plummeting into the sea more than 300 miles off the Russian coast.
Trump has also sought to enlist the assistance of China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, with whom he met last month at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in preventing North Korea from escalating development of its weapons program.
The North Korean test came at an embarrassing moment for China, making it appear that Xi lacks influence with Kim.
The missile test occurred hours before China’s biggest diplomatic event of the year, the Belt and Road Forum, built around its highly ambitious \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d trade initiative, named to evoke the glories of the ancient Silk Road trade route.
Special correspondent Jessica Meyers in Beijing contributed to this report.
laura.king@latimes.com
@laurakingLAT
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UPDATES:
6: 20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from KCNA.
5: 40 p.m.: This article was updated with North Korea\u2019s official news agency saying the missile tested was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
This article was originally published at 4: 15 p.m.<\/p>\n