Donald Trump
President Trump warned Thursday that North Korea could face “some pretty severe” consequences after its defiant test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but Washington also confronted firm opposition from Russia and China over any possible response.
The Washington Post reports that Trump did not specify potential U.S.-directed punishment for North Korea, which on Tuesday launched a missile that experts say had a range that made it capable of reaching Alaska. Yet efforts to find consensus among world powers appeared to hit a wall — sharply limiting Trump’s options.
New sanctions would have little effect unless backed by China, which is the North’s financial lifeline. Russia also has rejected further economic pressures on the regime of Kim Jong Un.
With key players at odds, Trump must now find a way forward as he heads into Group of 20 meetings in Germany later Thursday. In Germany, Trump is expected to have his second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his first with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
In Warsaw, Trump said the United States was considering “some pretty severe things” in response to what he called “very, very bad behavior” from the North, although he did not mention any specific plans.
North Korea successfully test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile July 3. The missile was launched into a steep arc sending it more than 1,700 vertical miles up before beginning its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. (The Washington Post)
“Something will have to be done about it,” he said.
At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley accused China and Russia of “holding the hands” of Kim, the North Korean leader.
Haley chided Beijing and Moscow for not supporting a resolution that would tighten sanctions and hinted that the United States would consider the use of force.
“One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces,” she said. “We will use them if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction.”
Her words were met with criticism from Vladimir Safronkov, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, who called stricter sanctions “not acceptable” and military action “inadmissible.”
At a daily briefing in Beijing on Thursday, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry backed him up, calling for calm in response to U.S. remarks.
After his first meeting with Xi in April, Trump came out confident that China was on his side and would pressure Pyongyang to stop testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. That plan, as he recently tweeted, “has not worked out.”
In recent weeks, Trump has stepped up his criticism of China. “Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40 percent in the first quarter,” he tweeted Wednesday, without noting the source of the statistic. “So much for China working with us — but we had to give it a try!”
