01 August 2017

News Story: Abe, Trump agree to take new action after 2nd N. Korean ICBM

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in telephone talks Monday that they must take fresh action to tackle the threat from North Korea following Pyongyang's second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"I completely agreed with President Trump on the recognition that we must take further action," Abe told reporters after the talks.

A senior Japanese official later said Abe and Trump agreed on the need to immediately impose measures against the North that are stronger than those previously discussed at the United Nations.

"We have made repeated efforts to resolve the North Korean issue peacefully, coordinating between Japan and the United States and with the international community, but North Korea has trampled all over these efforts and unilaterally escalated (the situation)," Abe said.

"China, Russia and the rest of the international community must take seriously this undeniable fact and increase their pressure," he said.

The ICBM launched late Friday night travelled for 47 minutes, according to North Korea's official media, before falling into the Sea of Japan inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Read the full story at The Mainichi