North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has promised there will be more nuclear missile tests in the Pacific, following the country’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time on Monday, which he called a “curtain raiser.”
This is the moment North Korea launched a missile over Japan https://t.co/tI9mcrVTVo pic.twitter.com/UF99HEG4M7
— CNN (@CNN) August 30, 2017
This promise also comes despite President Donald Trump’s warning Tuesday that “all options are on the table” when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
(Twitter)
The White House statement came the day after North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan in what has been called its most provocative missile test yet.
Kim Jong Un said Wednesday that “more ballistic missile rocket launching drills [are] necessary,” and that he will observe “U.S. demeanors” before deciding on what to do next, according to a USA Today report.
(Twitter)
North Korea’s state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) out of Pyongyang, said Kim Jong Un was reportedly present for the ballistic missile launch over Japan, and expressed “great satisfaction” of what he referred to as a “meaningful prelude” to keeping Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, in check.
“The world has receive 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 early Tuesday morning.
“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,” Trump added.
(Twitter)
On Monday, North Korea launched what is believed to have been an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile that flew over Hokkaido Island, in Japan.
The missile landed in the Pacific Ocean, and officials later said that the U.S. territory of Guam had not been in danger of being in range of the missile.
The missile was characterized as the “most provocative missile test in a very long time, perhaps ever,” BBC News said.
North Korea also fired three missiles on Saturday, local time.
This all comes during a time when the United States and South Korea are conducting war games. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has said that participating in these drills would be like “throwing fuel onto fire.”
It turns out that Pyongyang fired three short-range ballistic missiles from the Kangwon Province, two of which flew about 250 kilometers while one appeared to blow up almost immediately.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to run high.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) out of Pyongyang recently released new North Korean propaganda posters that “answer” the United States’ threats and warnings not to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or threaten Guam. One of the posters shows the U.S. Capitol building being blown up.
The propaganda posters came on the heels of North Korea backing down and calling off its threat to bomb Guam.
The KCNA had said that Kim Jong Un might change his mind “if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions.”
Rhetoric between the United States and North Korea has lately been nothing short of a soap opera.
On August 11 – prior to Mattis’ last comments, President Donald Trump threatened that Kim Jong Un will “truly regret it, and regret it fast” if North Korea were to fire any missile.
North Korea on August 8 threatened to attack Guam with intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missiles, and then said it would continue to plan a strike on the U.S. territory despite warnings from both President Trump and Defense Secretary Mattis, and that plans for the attack would be completed by mid-August.
This came on the heels of Trump saying August 8 that North Korea would be met with “fire and fury” if it continues to threaten the United States. And, Mattis also said North Korea should “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people.”
Trump later said his “fire and fury” statement might not have been “tough enough,” and the President said August 10 for North Korea to “get their act together” or the country will be in trouble “like few nations have ever been.”
Trump also said August 10 that while Americans should be “very comfortable,” North Koreans should be “very, very nervous […] because things will happen to them like they never thought possible.”
On August 11, Trump tweeted and warned Kim Jong Un that: “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”
North Korea had responded to U.S. threats not long before that, saying it considers the United States “no more than a lump which we can beat to a jelly any time.”
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