Japan Times:
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is “very angry” at North Korea’s ballistic missile test earlier this month, and that boosting a missile defense system for Japan and South Korea is among the options to counter provocative acts by Pyongyang.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump said he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the “top of the pack,” reversing his predecessor Barack Obama’s goal of achieving a world without nuclear weapons.
Trump said China could solve North Korea’s nuclear issue “very easily if they want to,” urging Beijing to exert more influence on Pyongyang to get it to rein in its missile and nuclear weapons programs, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“There’s talks of a lot more than that,” Trump said, when asked about the missile defense system.
“We’ll see what happens. But it’s a very dangerous situation, and China can end it very quickly in my opinion,” he said.
China said over the weekend that it will suspend coal imports from Pyongyang until the end of the year as part of tightened sanctions against the country in accordance with a UNSC resolution.
But China, the main economic and diplomatic benefactor of North Korea, has been reluctant to put too much pressure on the country, fearing it could destabilize Kim’s regime.
Scholars say China has a strategic interest in ensuring the stability of North Korea because it serves as a buffer zone between it and South Korea, a U.S. ally.
North Korea test-fired what it said was a new type of mid- to long-range ballistic missile on Feb. 12, Pyongyang’s first provocative act since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20.
Analysts regarded the launch as a test of Trump’s North Korea policy.
Trump did not completely rule out the possibility of meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the future under certain circumstances, but suggested it might be too late.
“It’s very late. We’re very angry at what he’s done, and frankly this should have been taken care of during the Obama administration,” Trump said.
The missile launch interrupted Trump’s meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month in Florida.
The Japanese government reportedly plans to start a debate on deploying a U.S. missile defense system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), as well as the land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense system, to improve its capability to counter North Korean ballistic missiles…
