Abe, Trump stand together after N. Korea missile launch
(Mainichi Japan)
PALM BEACH, Florida (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump responded in a united, albeit vague, manner Saturday to the latest ballistic missile launch by North Korea.
"President Trump has just made it clear in our leaders' summit that the United States is with Japan 100 percent at all times, and he is standing next to me right now in order to demonstrate that will," Abe said in an impromptu joint press announcement following their working dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago vacation estate in Florida.
Trump refrained from mentioning North Korea or the missile launch of a few hours earlier, uttering only a single comment about the United States standing by Japan.
"I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent," Trump said.
Abe and Trump had been having dinner at Trump's vacation estate in Palm Beach, Florida, having spent the day playing golf nearby. Shortly before the dinner, the South Korean military said North Korea had fired a ballistic missile in the direction of the Sea of Japan, the first such launch since Trump took office on Jan. 20.
Abe also called the launch "absolutely intolerable," repeating the Japanese government's position that North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. resolutions.
The leaders did not take questions.
In a joint statement released after their first official summit in Washington on Friday, Abe and Trump strongly urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile development efforts.
They also affirmed that the United States is fully committed to defending its allies "through the full range of U.S. military capabilities."
That confirmation served to reassure Japan that it remains under the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella despite a remark by Trump on the presidential campaign trail last year suggesting he would be open to Tokyo and Seoul developing their own nuclear weapons instead.
The South Korean military said it is checking whether the missile, launched around 7:55 a.m. local time from North Korea's northwest, was an intermediate-range Musudan type.
The Musudan's range could potentially allow it to reach, U.S. military bases on Guam in the Western Pacific, as well as any target in Japan or South Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed in a New Year's address that Pyongyang has reached the final stage of preparations to test an intercontinental ballistic missile. An operational ICBM could potentially deliver a nuclear warhead to targets on the U.S. mainland.
Abe is scheduled to return to Tokyo on Monday from his five-day trip to the United States. The visit is aimed at demonstrating the strength of the bilateral alliance and building a personal bond between the leaders.