Tag Archives: Missile Test

North Korea tests ICBM, and blames US for destabilization

North-Korea-missile-test

Important Takeaways:

  • North Korea test-fires intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting US: report
  • The projectile, which has the capability of traveling more than 9,300 miles and reaching the mainland U.S., flew 73 minutes before landing in an area west of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, Reuters reported, citing Japan’s Defense Ministry and Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense Shingo Miyake.
  • South Korea’s military said the North Korean missile was launched on an elevated angle in an apparent attempt to avoid neighboring countries. Japanese lawmaker Masahisa Sato, citing Japan’s Defense Ministry, also said the missile rose as high as 3,730 miles.
  • The launch comes after North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the sea on Sunday, South Korea said, with Pyongyang blaming the U.S. for escalating military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
  • …the ministry criticized the U.S. for what it called a “reckless military threat” that was destabilizing the region, referring to the U.S. deployment of military assets, including strategic bombers and nuclear-powered submarines, to South Korea.
  • “The armed forces of the DPRK will thoroughly neutralize the U.S. and its vassal forces’ attempt to ignite a nuclear war and thus reliably ensure peace and security in the Korean peninsula,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
  • Hours before North Korea launched the first missile, a joint statement from the U.S. and South Korea warned Pyongyang that “[a]ny nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.”

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Iran confirms missile test in defiance of U.S.

FILE PHOTO: A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran September 27, 2017. Picture taken September 27, 2017. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS

By Babak Dehghanpisheh

GENEVA (Reuters) – A senior Iranian military commander confirmed that Tehran recently carried out a ballistic missile test to the anger of the United States, the Fars news agency said on Tuesday.

The Revolutionary Guards official’s comment came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assertion earlier this month that Iran had test-fired a missile capable of carrying multiple warheads and reaching the Middle East and Europe.

“We will continue our missile tests and this recent action was an important test,” Guards’ airspace division head Amirali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

“The reaction of the Americans shows that this test was very important for them and that’s why they were shouting,” he added, without specifying what type of missile had been tested.

The U.N. Security Council met last week over the test that the United States, Britain and France said flouted U.N. restrictions on Tehran’s military program.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

Iran has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly the missile program run by the Guards. It says the program is purely defensive and denies missiles are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads.

Hajizadeh said Iran holds up to 50 missile tests a year.

“The issue of missiles has never been subject to negotiations and nothing has been approved or ratified about its prohibition for the Islamic Republic of Iran in (U.N.) resolution 2231,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday, according to the Tasnim news agency.

“Our defense doctrine is basically founded upon deterrence.”

Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran is “called upon” to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years.

Some states argue the language does not make it obligatory.

Last month, Hajizadeh said U.S. bases in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles.

In October, the Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria after the Islamist group took responsibility for an attack at a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people, nearly half of them Guards members.

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Andrew Cawthorne)

Germany withdraws diplomat from North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Germany is withdrawing a third diplomat from its embassy in North Korea over increasing concerns about Pyongyang’s missile program, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang test fired a new missile.

North Korea said on Wednesday it had successfully tested a powerful new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons.

Berlin strongly condemned the test as a violation of international law.

Speaking in Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Gabriel said he had offered support for taking a tough line towards Pyongyang.

“He wants our support for their efforts to pursue a hardline position vis a vis North Korea, and he has it. But it’s our job to decide what we will do in diplomatic channels.”

Two diplomats had already been withdrawn from the German embassy in Pyongyang, and a third was being pulled out now, Gabriel said. Germany was also demanding North Korea reduce its diplomatic presence in Germany.

Gabriel said Washington had not demanded that Germany, one of seven European countries with embassies in North Korea, shut its mission or withdraw its ambassador. It was not Germany’s desire to shut down its embassy, he said, but added: “that doesn’t mean we are ruling it out.”

Gabriel said Germany would discuss North Korea options with fellow European countries to determine “whether it’s necessary to further increase the diplomatic pressure.”

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States had called on countries to scale back or cut ties with North Korea as part of an effort to pressure Pyongyang to give up its weapons programs.

“If they would be willing to close their missions in North Korea altogether, that is also something we would be supportive of,” she said, while adding that Tillerson had not specifically asked in his meeting with Gabriel for Germany to recall its ambassador.

Gabriel also told reporters that he had no information about reports that the White House planned to replace Tillerson, noting that he had already scheduled another meeting with Tillerson for next week. U.S. officials said on Thursday the White House had developed a plan for CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson within weeks.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Dalia Fahmy; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Graff and Frances Kerry)

North Korea preparing long-range missile test: RIA cites Russian lawmaker

MOSCOW (Reuters) – North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, RIA news agency cited a Russian lawmaker as saying on Friday.

Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian Duma’s international affairs committee, and two other Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang on Oct. 2-6, RIA reported.

“They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States,” RIA quoted Morozov as saying.

“As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future. And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.”

U.S. Treasury prices surged on the headlines, pulling yields lower, as investors cut risk out of their portfolios and sought the safety of Treasuries. Treasury prices move inversely to their yields. Benchmark 10 year U.S. Treasury notes fell from the session high 2.40 percent mark <US10YT=TWEB> to 2.35 percent around midday (1600 GMT) in New York. “It has just been risk-off buying into the long (Columbus Day) weekend … You look at the charts, it has really been a one-way trade of lower yields,” said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York; Editing by Catherine Evans and James Dalgleish)

In photos, North Korea signals a more powerful ICBM in the works

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un looks on during a visit to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on August 23, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS

By Jack Kim and Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) – With photographs obliquely showing a new rocket design, North Korea has sent a message that it is working on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) more powerful than any it has previously tested, weapons experts said on Thursday.

If developed, such a missile could possibly reach any place on the U.S. mainland, including Washington and New York, they said.

North Korea’s state media published photographs late on Wednesday of leader Kim Jong Un standing next to a diagram of a three-stage rocket it called the Hwasong-13.

Missile experts, who carefully examine such pictures for clues about North Korea’s weapons programs, said there is no indication that the rocket has been fully developed. In any case, it had not been flight tested and it was impossible to calculate its potential range, they said.

However, a three-stage rocket would be more powerful than the two-stage Hwasong-14 ICBM tested on two occasions in July, they said. South Korean and U.S. officials and experts have said the Hwasong-14 possibly had a range of about 10,000 km (6,200 miles) and could strike many parts of the United States, but not the East Coast.

“We should be looking at Hwasong-13 as a 12,000-km class ICBM that can strike all of the mainland United States,” said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

A distance in excess of 11,000 km (6,800 miles) will put Washington and New York within range from anywhere in North Korea.

“It’s likely meant to show that they are working on a three-stage design with greater boost and range,” said retired Brigadier General Moon Sung-muk, an arms control expert who has represented South Korea in military talks with the North.

“They tested the Hwasong-14 which has an estimated range of 9,000 km, 10,000 km. This one can go further, is the message,” he said.

TENSIONS EASE

Pyongyang’s intentions in showing plans for the new missile were clear, the experts said. The photographs were accompanied by a report of Kim issuing instructions for the production of more rocket engines and warheads during a visit to the Academy of Defense Sciences, an agency he has set up to develop ballistic missiles.

“We’re getting a look at it to emphasize domestic production of missiles, and to advertise what’s coming next,” said Joshua Pollack, a nuclear weapon and missile systems expert who edits the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review.

The photographs were published as tensions between North Korea and the United States appeared to have eased slightly after the isolated nation tested the Hwasong-14 and later threatened to fire missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

Wednesday’s report carried by the KCNA news agency lacked the traditionally robust threats against the United States, and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism about a possible improvement in relations.

Kim, the expert at Kyungnam University, said from the design standpoint, Hwasong-13 was similar to the KN-08, a three-stage missile of which only a mockup has previously been seen at military parades. But the new images show a modified design for the main booster stage that clusters two engines.

Another picture published by North Korean state media showed Kim Jong Un standing next to a rocket casing that appeared to be made of a material that could include plastic. Experts said if such material were used in the missile, it would be intended to reduce weight and boost range.

The photographs also showed the design for the Pukguksong-3, likely a new solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile being developed for submarine launches.

Moon, the former South Korean general, said the pictures were intended to show that the North was refusing to bow to international pressure to call off its weapons programs.

“The North is trying to be in control of the playing field,” Moon said.

For a graphic on North Korean missile ranges, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/010041L63FE/index.html

(Additional reporting by James Pearson and Christine Kim; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

U.S. likely to target more Chinese entities over North Korea ‘fairly soon’: official

FILE PHOTO: North Korean soldiers chat as they stand guard behind national flags of China (front) and North Korea on a boat anchored along the banks of Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, June 10, 2013. REUTERS/Jacky Chen

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing North Korean’s weapons programs, including measures aimed at Chinese financial institutions, can be expected “fairly soon,” a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Asked when such sanctions could be expected and whether they could come within 30 days, Susan Thornton, the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a Senate sub-committee hearing:

“We have been working on coming up with a new list of entities that we think are violating … I think you’ll see something fairly soon, yes.”

Thornton said the United States would prefer to cooperate with China in going after entities doing business with North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.

“But we are perfectly prepared to act on our own,” she said.

“I think the Chinese are now very clear that we’re going to go after Chinese entities if need be, if we find them to be in violation, and if the Chinese feel they can’t cooperate in going after those targets.”

Thornton also said Washington was still considering whether to add North Korea back to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, from which it was removed in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks.

“We are reviewing that issue right now … We are looking at the issue of designation,” she said, adding that she could not give a time frame for a decision.

Thornton said the United States had offered customs assistance to China to help stem illicit trade over its border with North Korea. “We are working on that with them, as are some of our like-minded allies in the region,” she said.

She said sanctions had affected North Korea’s ability to get materials for its weapons programs, but had not slowed its missile testing, as a lot of the production for this program was now indigenous.

“We are continuing to talk to China about that,” she said. “We’re continuing to try to impinge on sources of, particularly, hard currency, financing, but … it’s become harder and harder to stop this kind of activity in North Korea.”

U.S. officials said on Tuesday they had seen increased activity at a site in the western city of Kusong that could be preparations for another missile test within days.

U.S. officials told Reuters this month the Trump administration could impose new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other firms doing business with Pyongyang within weeks.

China’s Ambassador to Washington Cui Tiankai said on Tuesday secondary sanctions on Chinese firms were “unacceptable” and had “severely impaired” cooperation on North Korea.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by James Dalgleish)

U.S. says progress with China on N.Korea U.N. sanctions, true test is Russia

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley directs comments to the Russian delegation at the conclusion of a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea at U.N. headquarters in New York.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States is making progress in talks with North Korean ally China on imposing new United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang over its latest missile test, but Russia’s engagement will be the “true test,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said on Tuesday.

The United States gave China a draft resolution nearly three weeks ago to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea over the July 4 missile launch. Haley had been aiming for a vote by the 15-member Security Council within weeks, senior diplomats said.

“We’re constantly in touch with China … Things are moving but it’s still too early to tell how far they’ll move,” Haley told reporters, adding that she was pleased with China’s initial response to the U.S. proposal because it showed “seriousness.”

“We know that China’s been sharing and negotiating with Russia, so as long as they are doing that, we’re going to continue to watch this closely to make sure it is a strong resolution,” she said.

China’s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters: “We are making progress, it requires time, but we’re working very hard.”

Traditionally, the United States and China have negotiated sanctions on North Korea before formally involving other council members, though diplomats said Washington informally keeps Britain and France in the loop. Along with Russia, those five countries are veto-wielding Security Council members.

“The true test will be what (the Chinese) have worked out with Russia (and whether) Russia comes and tries to pull out of that,” said Haley.

The United States and Russia have waged rival campaigns at the Security Council over the type of ballistic missile fired by North Korea. Western powers have said it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), while Russia said the missile fired was only medium-range.

Diplomats say China and Russia only view a long-range missile test or nuclear weapon test as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions.

“Everyone that we have dealt with acknowledges that it’s an ICBM. Whether they are willing to put it in writing or not is going to be the real question,” Haley said.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and two long-range missile launches.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea and senior officials have said Washington could impose new sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang.

When asked how long Washington was willing to negotiate with China at the United Nations before deciding to impose its own secondary sanctions, Haley said: “We’re making progress … We’re going to see what the situation is.”

“We want China and every other country to see it as serious and we’re going to keep moving forward that way,” she said.

China’s Ambassador to Washington Cui Tiankai said on Tuesday that Beijing objected to secondary sanctions. In June, the United States blacklisted two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

“Such actions are unacceptable. They have severely impaired China-U.S. cooperation on the Korean nuclear issue, and give rise to more questions about the true intention of the U.S.,” he told the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington.

(Additional reporting by David Brunstrom in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Hawaii, Alaska contemplate coming into North Korean missile range

An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter participates in a helicopter training exercise over Diamond Head crater on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in this July 3, 2014 handout photo obtained by Reuters July 6, 2017. Ensign Joseph Pfaff/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

By Karin Stanton and Jill Burke

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii/WILLOW, Alaska (Reuters) – Disused military tunnels snake beneath the crater of Diamond Head, out of sight of the tourists lounging near the volcano on Waikiki Beach but very much on the mind of Gene Ward, a state representative from Honolulu.

Alarmed by North Korea’s latest missile tests and claims that its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large nuclear warhead, Ward believes it is time to refurbish the tunnels as civilian shelters in case of a North Korean attack.

“We’ve had wake-up calls before but what happened on July 3 is shaking us out of bed,” said Ward, referring to Pyongyang’s latest missile test.

North Korea’s state media said the missile reached an altitude of 2,802 km (1,741 miles), and some Western experts said that meant it might have a range of more than 8,000 km (4,970 miles), which would put Hawaii and Alaska within striking distance.

Americans from the Alaskan tundra to the tropics of Hawaii have had years to contemplate North Korea’s accelerating missile program, which has generated both angst and shrugs given that the reclusive government’s true capabilities and intentions remain unknown.

Ward, a Republican in a Democratic-majority state, said he supports reviving state legislation that would reopen the bunkers built by the U.S. military even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that prompted U.S. entry into World War Two.

The tunnels are among many military bunkers and batteries carved into Oahu as part of a buildup that began after Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1898 and continued through World War Two.

If Hawaiians have a stronger sense of vulnerability stemming from Pearl Harbor, then some Alaskan seem largely unperturbed.

Doyle Holmes, a retired U.S. Navy pilot and hardware store owner who lives about 50 miles (80 km) north of Anchorage, sums up his advice to fellow Alaskans this way: “Go back to sleep and don’t keep worrying about it.”

Holmes, 79, a Republican Party activist who retired in March from the Alaska State Defense Force, said his attitude is rooted in his abiding faith in the U.S. military’s ability to counter any attempt by North Korea to strike American soil.

“It would be self-annihilation if they launch a missile at the United States,” Holmes said.

“I think we are going to be OK. I went through the nuclear fallout classes and the bomb shelter stuff in the 1950s and 1960s,” he said, referring to U.S. preparations for a potential Cold War-era Soviet attack that never came.

Last week the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee proposed $8.5 billion of funding for the Missile Defense Agency to strengthen homeland, regional and space missile defenses.

Some of this would pay for 28 missile interceptors to augment 32 already at a base in Fort Greely, Alaska, a Hill staffer said. The department already had plans to place 40 interceptors at the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) battery by the end of 2017.

Some experts on Northeast Asian political and security issues believe political leaders and the media have been too quick to qualify North Korea as a nuclear power, questioning whether it can genuinely delivery a functional nuclear warhead with accuracy or whether North Korea would risk certain U.S. retaliation.

But Denny Roy, a senior fellow with the East-West Center think tank in Honolulu, said the public discourse had definitely changed with the latest episode.

“The milestone is that Americans seem to believe that North Korea can hit the U.S. homeland, whereas up until now it was all theoretical and potential,” Roy said.

Hawaiians are mindful that the islands could make an enticing target given their large concentration of U.S. military power, including the Pacific Command responsible for U.S. forces in Asia.

“I’m not building a bunker yet, but we definitely have to stay vigilant,” said Reece Bonham, 24, a retail manager in the city of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Caelen McHale, 21, a University of Hawaii business management major, was skeptical of North Korea’s claims and confident in U.S. military power, but still worried how the United States might respond.

“Our administration is scarier than North Korea’s,” she said.

(Reporting by Karin Stanton in Hawaii, Jill Burke in Alaska, Daniel Trotta in New York and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Steve Gorman and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James Dalgleish)

South Korea fires at suspected drone at border with North amid missile crisis

Ballistic rocket is seen launching during a drill by the Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force, July 2016. KCNA/via REUTERS

By Ju-min Park and Christine Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s military fired warning shots at a suspected drone from North Korea on Tuesday amid tension over Pyongyang’s latest missile test which drew international condemnation and a warning from China.

The identity of the object remained unclear, the military said, but Yonhap news agency said it was possibly a drone, more than 90 shots were fired in return and it disappeared from radar screens.

The incursion came with tension already high on the Korean peninsula after the North’s test-launch of a ballistic missile test on Sunday which Pyongyang said proved advances in its pursuit of building a nuclear-tipped weapon that can hit U.S. targets.

The United States has been trying to persuade China, North Korea’s lone major ally, to do more to rein in North Korea, which has conducted dozens of missile launches and tested two nuclear bombs since the start of last year, in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and resolutions.

The North has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of striking the United States and has ignored calls to halt its weapons programs, even from China. It says the program is necessary to counter U.S. aggression.

“We urge North Korea to not do anything to again violate U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Tuesday.

“At the same time, we hope all parties can maintain restraint, not be influenced by every single incident, …persist in carrying out Security Council resolutions on North Korea and persevere with the resolution of the issue through peaceful means, dialogue and consultation.”

Wang was responding to reporters’ questions on Monday while in Ivory Coast, according to the statement.

The North’s official KCNA news agency, citing the spokesman for the foreign ministry, said the country had “substantially displayed” the capabilities for mounting a nuclear attack on Hawaii and Alaska and had built full capabilities for attacking the U.S. mainland.

U.S. and South Korean officials and experts believe the North is several years away from having such a capability.

North Korea said on Monday that Sunday’s launch met all technical requirements that could allow mass-production of the missile, which it calls the Pukguksong-2.

The test was North Korea’s second in a week and South Korea’s new liberal government said it dashed its hopes for peace on the peninsula.

The U.N. Security Council condemned the launch and again expressed its concern over the North’s behavior. The Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors later on Tuesday.

North Korea’s recent missile tests were a legitimate act of self-defense by a “fully-fledged nuclear power”, North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Chol told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday.

“It is the United States’ hostile policy and its aggressive joint military drills, nuclear threats and military build-up around the Korean peninsula that really aggravates the situation on the Korean peninsula and the region and which compels the DPRK to also up its nuclear deterrence,” he said.

DPRK are the initials for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Ju was the only speaker at the forum who did not begin his remarks by offering condolences to Britain for the victims of Monday night’s bomb attack at a concert in Manchester.

The South Korean military did not say if the unidentified object was hit by the warning shots on Tuesday, but it disappeared from military radar.

North Korea has previously sent drones into South Korean airspace, with some crashing. In January 2016, South Korea fired warning shots at a suspected drone which turned back.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its weapons programs, although U.S. officials say tougher sanctions, not military force, are the preferred option to counter the North Korean threat.

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jack Kim)

Exclusive: Trump administration weighing broad sanctions on North Korea – U.S. official

FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides field guidance at the construction site of Ryomyong Street in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on March 16, 2017. KCNA/via Reuters

By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with North Korea – plus beefed-up defenses by the United States and its South Korean and Japanese allies, according to the administration official familiar with the deliberations.

While the long-standing option of pre-emptive military strikes against North Korea is not off the table – as reflected by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s warning to Pyongyang during his Asia tour last week – the new administration is giving priority for now to less-risky options.

The policy recommendations being assembled by President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, are expected to reach the president’s desk within weeks, possibly before a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in early April, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. North Korea is expected to top the agenda at that meeting.

It is not clear how quickly Trump will decide on a course of action, which could be delayed by the slow pace at which the administration is filling key national security jobs.

The White House declined comment.

Trump met McMaster on Saturday to discuss North Korea and said afterward that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, was “acting very, very badly.”

The president spoke hours after North Korea boasted of a successful rocket-engine test, which officials and experts think is part of a program aimed at building an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States.

‘SECONDARY SANCTIONS’

The administration source said U.S. officials, including Tillerson, had privately warned China about broader “secondary sanctions” that would target banks and other companies that do business with North Korea, most of which are Chinese.

The move under consideration would mark an escalation of Trump’s pressure on China to do more to contain North Korea. It was not clear how Chinese officials responded to those warnings but Beijing has made clear its strong opposition to such moves.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the situation on the Korean peninsula was at a crossroads and there were two prospects.

One, she said, was that the relevant parties could continue to “escalate toward conflict and potential war”.

“The other choice is that all sides can cool down and jointly pull the Korean nuclear issue back to a path of political and diplomatic resolution,” Hua told a daily news briefing on Tuesday.

China would strictly and comprehensively implement its duties under the U.N. Security Council resolutions, which meant implementing sanctions but also making efforts to get back to talks, she added.

The objective of the U.S. move being considered would be to tighten the screws in the same way that the widening of sanctions – to encompass foreign firms dealing with Iran – was used to pressure Tehran to open negotiations with the West on its suspected nuclear weapons program. That effort ultimately led to a 2015 deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

For such measures to have any chance to influence the behavior of North Korea, which is already under heavy sanctions, Washington must secure full international cooperation – especially from China, which has shown little appetite for putting such a squeeze on its neighbor.

Analysts also have questioned whether such sanctions would be as effective on North Korea as they were on a major oil producer such as Iran, given the isolated nation’s limited links to the world financial system.

North Korea has relied heavily on illicit trade done via small Chinese banks. So, to be applied successfully, the new measures would have to threaten to bar those banks from the international financial system.

Also under consideration are expanded efforts to seize assets of Kim and his family outside North Korea, the official said.

MILITARY OPTIONS

The military dimension of the review includes a strengthened U.S. presence in the region and deployment of advanced missile defenses, initially in South Korea and possibly in Japan. The U.S. military has begun to install a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea, despite Chinese opposition.

Washington is increasingly concerned, however, that the winner of South Korea’s May 9 presidential election might backtrack on the deployment and be less supportive of tougher sanctions.

Tillerson warned on Friday that Washington had not ruled out military action if the threat from North Korea becomes unacceptable.

For now, U.S. officials consider pre-emptive strikes too risky, given the danger of igniting a regional war and causing massive casualties in Japan and South Korea and among tens of thousands of U.S. troops based in both allied countries.

Another U.S. government source said Trump could also opt to escalate cyber attacks and other covert action aimed at undermining North Korea’s leadership.

“These options are not done as stand-alones,” the first U.S. official said. “It’s going to be some form of ‘all of the above,’ probably excluding military action.”

Trump is known to have little patience for foreign policy details, but officials say he seems to have heeded a warning from his predecessor, Barack Obama, that North Korea would be the most urgent international issue he would face.

In his North Korea briefings, Trump has asked repeatedly how many nuclear warheads and missiles Pyongyang has, at the same time as demanding to know how much South Korea and Japan are paying for their own defense, one U.S. official said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by John Walcott, and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Kieran Murray, Peter Cooney and Nick Macfie)