Donald Trump and America’s Asian allies have sought consensus on how to counter what the US president called the “menace” of North Korea after its test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
As he met Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Mr Trump said: “Something has to be done about it.”
In a separate meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the US president said the two countries were tackling “the problem and menace of North Korea”.
Japan’s Shinzo Abe greets Donald Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)
The White House said after the meeting with Mr Abe that the US was “prepared to use the full range of capabilities” in defence of Japan.
Mr Trump and Mr Abe had committed, the White House said, “to redoubling their efforts to bring all nations together to show North Korea that there are consequences for its threatening and unlawful actions”.
The Trump administration has tried to pressure Beijing to rein in North Korea, a major trading partner, to halt Kim Jong Un’s development of nuclear weapons before they have the ability to threaten the US mainland.
Mr Trump has voiced his frustration in recent days that China has not done more, suggesting he may be moving on. But during his meeting, Mr Trump told Mr Xi: “I appreciate the things that you have done relative to the very substantial problem that we all face in North Korea.”
News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)">North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Mr Abe noted that the security situation in the Asia Pacific region has become “increasingly severe” due to North Korea’s push to develop its ballistic missile and nuclear programme.
The Japanese leader said he wanted to “demonstrate the robust partnership as well as the bonds” between Japan and the US on the issue.
North Korea’s successful test launch of an ICBM was a major milestone in its long-term effort to build a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to attack the United States.
The issue was a frequent topic of discussion at the summit, and the White House said earlier that the US, South Korea and Japan were pressing for additional measures against North Korea to demonstrate the “serious consequences” for its latest provocations.
The three nations have been calling for “early adoption” of a new UN Security Council resolution and additional sanctions to demonstrate to Pyongyang the consequences of its actions.
Bringing China on board is a key part of the plan. The administration wants China to fully enforce international sanctions intended to starve Pyongyang of revenue for its nuclear and missile programmes. But Mr Trump has been dissatisfied with China’s response.
Earlier in the week, he said on Twitter that trade between China and North Korea had grown nearly 40% at the start of 2017, writing: “So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try!”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here