U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Japan would shoot North Korean missiles “out of the sky” if it bought the U.S. weaponry needed for doing so, suggesting Tokyo take a stance it has avoided until now.
Mr. Trump, speaking after a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, repeated his mantra that the “era of strategic patience” with North Korea was over, and said the two countries were working to counter the “dangerous aggressions”.
Mr. Trump also pressed Japan to lower its trade deficit with the United States and buy more U.S. military hardware. “He (Abe) will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the North Korean missiles.
“The Prime Minister is going to be purchasing massive amounts of military equipment, as he should. And we make the best military equipment by far,” he said.
Mr. Abe, for his part, said Tokyo would shoot down missiles “if necessary”. Japan’s policy is that it would only shoot down a missile if it were falling on Japanese territory or if it were judged to pose an “existential threat” to Japan because it was aimed at a U.S. target.