Luckily, US intelligence reports that Kim Jong-un’s latest missile test was not successful. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s the principle of the thing. North Korea is a close client of China. Obviously it’s a bit of a problem child, but Chinese President Xi Jinping took Kim Jong-un under his wing in a way and trusted that he would be open to reason. Turns out Xi was wrong.
Xi warned Kim that if he continued with his missile tests (in an attempt to create an intercontinental missile that he could fire at, say, Baltimore and blow the hell out of it from safe on his home turf), China would be taking punitive measures against him.
Now, Kim has gone ahead and tested another missile, so it’s like a big slap in the face for Xi, who trusted Kim to do as he was told (big mistake).
Trump has intervened
US President Donald Trump, who claims to be a close friend of Xi but that’s debatable but the US and China are definitely getting along again at least, has come forward to denounce North Korea (again), saying that Kim has “disrespected China” with his latest missile launch.
It’s worth mentioning that today is Trump’s 100th day as President, which has been considered a milestone since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s impressive first 100 days in the Oval Office. Trump focused heavily on all the stuff he’d do in his first hundred days on the campaign trail, but he’s softened on it now that the milestone has arrived and he hasn’t done anywhere near all of that stuff.
So, on his 100th day, he’s not even talking about America or the implications on US national security presented by this missile test. Instead, his main focus is on his buddy over in China and how this affects him and how galling and offensive and cheeky this move is from Kim.
Let’s be honest, Kim could’ve held off on the ballistic missile test for just a couple of days while he waits for the heat to die down from the rising tensions between himself and the alliance of Trump and Xi.
He knows Trump has an itchy trigger after his strike on Syria after President Assad’s chemical attack on his own people so he should be more worried, not to mention what punitive measures from China might entail.
US pushing for tougher sanctions on North Korea
The United States government and the Trump administration are determined to enforce tougher sanctions on Kim Jong-un and his regime in North Korea.
Trump took to Twitter to condemn Kim for his actions, claiming that Pyongyang’s missile launch is disrespectful to China and its President’s wishes.
Trump wrote that Kim has “disrespected the wishes of China” as well as that of “its highly respected President,” Xi, whom Trump still maintains he’s good friends with, by launching a missile – “though unsuccessfully,” Trump added. And then, a funny little note at the end, Trump signed off his tweet by saying, “Bad!” as if Kim Jong-un was a dog who’d piddled on the rug, not a ruthless dictator who’d tested a ballistic weapon in an attempt to wipe out his country.
Rex Tillerson has involved himself again
Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, has warned that the fact that the combined forces of the United States and China putting pressure on Kim have failed to stop him from launching missiles could lead to “catastrophic consequences.” That’s “catastrophic consequences,” as in global nuclear war that turns the world into Chernobyl and leaves us all with extra limbs and radiation poisoning or dead.
China and Russia have each separately warned the Trump administration in Washington against threatening Kim with military action, since we don’t know what the hell Kim is capable of and he clearly doesn’t care about what the UN tells him is okay and will just do whatever he wants regardless of how it makes us feel. According to Tillerson, the North Korea crisis is “the most pressing security issue in the world” and our political forces must act on it.
