North Korea made good on one of its threats Tuesday, firing a ballistic missile towards Japan. The missile was capable of delivering a nuclear payload and ultimately landed in the Pacific Ocean.
Thankfully, President Trump responded swiftly, stating that in response, "all options are on the table." Fox News/Associated Press summarizes:
"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," Trump said, in a written statement released by the White House.
"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table," the statement continued.
The distance and type of missile test seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the U.S. territory of Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan.
The White House said that Trump spoke Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the “grave” North Korean threat. “President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing pressure on North Korea, and doing their utmost to convince the international community to do the same,” the statement said.
Any new test worries Washington and its allies because it presumably puts the North a step closer toward its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target the United States. Tuesday's test, however, looks especially aggressive to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
The Pentagon told reporters that it was investigating the launch over Japan, adding: "North American Aerospace Defense Command determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America." The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said the Japanese military did not attempt to intercept the missile.
South Korea's air force effectively fired back at North Korea's missile launch over Japan by conducting a live-fire drill involving powerful bombs, officials said early Tuesday.
Just a few short days ago North Korea fired three short-range missiles into the sea. The difference now is that when an America-hostile regime flexes its muscles, an appeaser is not sitting in the Oval Office.