North Korean show of strength fizzles as missile launch fails
SEOUL: North Korea’s failed ballistic missile launch on Sunday drew a muted response from the Trump administration, easing the risk of imminent retaliation as Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Seoul.
Initial reports indicate the projectile was a medium-range missile and failed after about four or five seconds, a White House foreign policy adviser told reporters. While the US has a range of options including military and diplomatic to deal with North Korea, it won’t need to expend any resources to respond in this case given that the launch was unsuccessful, the adviser said.
"The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch," US Defence Secretary James Mattis said. "The president has no further comment."
The reaction helps deflate tensions that escalated in recent weeks as President Trump sent warships to the region amid speculation that Kim Jong Un’s regime would conduct a nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile test to mark the country’s biggest holiday. Trump has said military options are on the table and threatened to act unilaterally if China — North Korea’s main ally and benefactor — fails to do more to curb its neighbour’s activities.
Any US military strike risks leading to a war that may devastate South Korea and Japan, two American allies in striking range of retaliatory attacks. China has backed North Korea since the peninsula was last at war in the 1950s, in part to prevent having an American ally on its border. Pence arrived in Osan, south of Seoul, hours after the test for a previously planned trip to Asia.
Initial reports indicate the projectile was a medium-range missile and failed after about four or five seconds, a White House foreign policy adviser told reporters. While the US has a range of options including military and diplomatic to deal with North Korea, it won’t need to expend any resources to respond in this case given that the launch was unsuccessful, the adviser said.
"The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch," US Defence Secretary James Mattis said. "The president has no further comment."
The reaction helps deflate tensions that escalated in recent weeks as President Trump sent warships to the region amid speculation that Kim Jong Un’s regime would conduct a nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile test to mark the country’s biggest holiday. Trump has said military options are on the table and threatened to act unilaterally if China — North Korea’s main ally and benefactor — fails to do more to curb its neighbour’s activities.
Any US military strike risks leading to a war that may devastate South Korea and Japan, two American allies in striking range of retaliatory attacks. China has backed North Korea since the peninsula was last at war in the 1950s, in part to prevent having an American ally on its border. Pence arrived in Osan, south of Seoul, hours after the test for a previously planned trip to Asia.
