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North Korea Missile: Us Says It Will Use Military Force 'If We Must'
America's UN ambassador Nikki Haley says the US is prepared to defend itself and its allies
July 6th, 2017 | 08:43 AM | 2838 views
NORTH KOREA
The US has said that it will use its "considerable military forces" on North Korea "if we must".
Describing the North's latest missile test as a sharp military escalation, the US ambassador to the United Nations said the US will table a new resolution against Pyongyang.
Ambassador Nikki Haley also threatened to use trade restrictions.
The missile launch, the latest in a series of tests, was in defiance of a ban by the UN Security Council.
North Korea's test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Tuesday was "quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution," Ms Haley said.
"The United States is prepared to use the full range of our capabilities to defend ourselves, and our allies," the US ambassador told the UN Security Council, meeting for an emergency session to discuss the test.
"One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces. We will use them, if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction".
The French ambassador told the council that France also favours a new resolution on North Korea, which would tighten sanctions.
Russia, which condemned the test, said the possibility of using military measures "should be excluded".
China's representative said Beijing found North Korea's actions unacceptable. But he repeated China and Russia's joint call for the US to reverse plans to deploy an anti-missile system in South Korea, and for the two countries to suspend their joint military exercises close to North Korea.
Both Russia and China are permanent members of the UN Security Council and could veto any new resolution.
Earlier, Donald Trump criticised China for its trade with North Korea.
Ms Haley, who said she had discussed the issue with the president, said the US could cut off trade with countries which continued to trade with North Korea in violation of US resolutions.
"We will look at any country that chooses to do business with this outlaw regime," she says.
Mr Trump has arrived in Warsaw, ahead of his trip to Hamburg for the G20 summit of major economies, where he is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the second time.
The US president held talks with China's leader Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida in April.
After those talks, Mr Trump hailed "tremendous progress" with China, but on Wednesday the US president tweeted: "So much for China working with us - but we had to give it a try!"
North Korea's test of a long-range missile, which some experts think could travel far enough to hit Alaska, will be the subject of talks between leaders at the G20, which includes Russia.
By bringing Alaska within range, the new missile test is an unambiguous game-changer in both symbolical and practical terms.
US territory (albeit separate from the contiguous continental US) is now finally within Pyongyang's cross-hairs.
For the first time a US president has to accept that the North poses a "real and present" danger not merely to north-east Asia and America's key allies - but to the US proper.
President Trump's weakness lies in having overplayed his hand too publicly and too loudly
Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS
by BBC NEWS
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