Korean Peninsula Tensions at a ‘Tipping Point’; “Something Serious has to Happen”


The Chinese foreign ministry has called on North Korea to suspend its missile tests, and on the United States and South Korea to halt their annual joint military exercises. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying delivered the official government statement.

The situation is “now at a tipping point approaching a crisis. At the same time there is an opportunity to reopen peace talks,” Hua told a regular news briefing.”

Hua noted that previous military exercises and economic sanctions have not pressured North Korea into changing its belligerent behavior. She again renewed a call for direct peace talks among the parties involved.

In response to the launch, President Trump reiterated that “all options are on the table.” The official White House statement maintained the tough U.S. approach to the rogue regime.

The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe weighed in as well, calling the missile launch an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat.”

Abe and President Trump discussed the situation in a 40-minute phone call last evening. Both agreed to bring the matter to the United Nations for further consideration and action.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley had a tough message of her own, asking for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Haley said “something serious has to happen,” adding, “enough is enough.”

The U.S. Department of Defense is assessing the launch to determine what it might mean about North Korean capability to reach the United States with a similar missile.

In 1998, North Korea fired a missile that flew through Japanese airspace. It’s believed yesterday’s launch was the first to pass over Japan at a high-altitude trajectory.

When news broke this summer that North Korea may have mastered the means to create a miniaturized nuclear warhead for its missiles, President Trump warned that the regime would suffer “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if the missile development and threats to the U.S. and its allies continue.

As the rate things are going, North Korea may have passed a “tipping point” a long time ago. Clearly, “enough is enough.”

Source: Channel News Asia, CNBC



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