Sen. Baldwin on North Korea: ‘Kim Jong Un is a threat’

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and British counterpart Theresa May are set to discuss their plans to address the security threat from North Korea in talks in Tokyo on Thursday. At a regular briefing on August 31, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said considerations for a new UN Security Council resolution would “take into account North Korea’s external economic relationships and sources of foreign currency”.

CALLS for new sanctions on North Korea were condemned by China yesterday as “destructive”.

However, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the focus should be on de-escalating tensions not “just chanting about sanctions”.

Mattis was responding to a question about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning about dealing with the threat of North Korea following the country’s most recent ballistic missile test over Japan. Japan’s defence ministry on Thursday said it would request its largest-ever annual budget to beef up its missile defence systems.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for more weapons tests targeting the Pacific Ocean. Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed it was a clandestine test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Trump also accurately labeled the launch of a midrange ballistic missile over Japanese territory an act that will only serve to further isolate the rogue nation from the world community.

Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says if North Korea continues its provocations, and chooses to start a war, it will be a suicide mission for the Hermit state.

USA heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North after its latest missile launch.

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, the 11-day joint military exercises the United States and South Korea completed Thursday, involved tens of thousands of USA and South Korean troops, although the exercises were conducted largely through computer simulations.

State-run news agency claimed the launch was “the first step of the military operation of the KPA (Korean People’s Army) in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam”, reasserting threats made earlier in the month to strike the USA territory, home to a large U.S. military base.