Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump on Monday held a discussion, following a call to action from the leaders over the “growing threat” from North Korea.
Speaking after the phone conversation, Abe noted that efforts to find a peaceful solution to the North’s nuclear programme were not working out.
“President Trump and I completely agreed that we must also take further action,” he said. “We will make every possible effort to protect our citizens’ safety against the threat from North Korea.”
But officials say the two leaders stopped short of discussing military action, instead, calling on the international community, including Russia and China, to step up pressure on Pyongyang.
The call came just hours after the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that Washington was done talking about North Korea and that any new UN resolution was of no value unless pressure on the regime was significantly increased.
Following Friday’s ballistic missile launch, President Trump reportedly took particular aim at China for not doing enough to rein in North Korea.
Beijing’s state media, however, fired back on Monday with an editorial in the Global Times saying the comment does not help the situation and could only have been made by a quote “green-horn US president who knows little about the North Korean nuclear issue”.
Senior officials in South Korea say President Moon Jae-in is also planning to hold a call with Trump, a conversation they say will most likely focus on imposing heavy sanctions on the North.
