By Aaron Miller-
US President Donald Trump has responded to North Korea’s latest missile launch as one that signals “contempt” for its neighbours and the UN.
Trump said the North would only increase its isolation, adding that “all options” were on the table.
The missile flew over northern Japan’s Hokkaido island then crashed into the northern Pacific Ocean.
Pyongyang, North Korea’s dictator, has said that US-South Korea military exercises have constituted a strong source of provocation which amount to a rehearsal for invasion.
Tensions between the North Korea have been seriously brewing for a while now, with strong and dangerous rhetoric sounded from both countries at various stages of the political conflict.
EMERGENCY MEETING
The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting in response to the latest crisis and round of fierce exchanges of language between the two camps. The stage seems to be set for a dramatic war which can only be averted with compromise and continued dialogue. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the missile launch undermines regional security and stability, and repeated calls for Pyongyang to comply with its international obligations. North Korea recently issued a threat to the Uk, that it faces a miserable end if it joined the U.S, Australia, and other participating countries in drills near the North Korean peninsular.
Australia was told it was committing a suicidal act for its role in the drills, but South Korea has all along spoken against the actions of the North Korean leader. Sanctions were also recently imposed on North Korea for its obstinate stance on its widely condemned ballistic missile testing programme, but Pyongyang has been irritably defiant in his response. Trump seems to be on reverse gear in his response to North Korea’s unyielding ambitions which are seen as an antagonistic way of signalling a confrontational position on an issue internationally deemed to have deleterious effects on world peace and international relations.
LOUD AND CLEAR
President Trump, in a statement released by the White House, said the world had “received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear”.
“This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour,” he said.
“Threatening and destabilising 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 he said. .Trump’s words are loaded and very suggestive of military confrontation in the works, but further dialogue is preferred in this precarious and tense situation.
DANGEROUS
Pyongyang must see how dangerous his actions are, and understand that the drills are not a rehearsal for starting war, but a preparation for the strong possibility of war if matters are not resolved in a politically mature manner. As leaders of world powers, the intelligent onlooker would think the leaders must be able to objectively understand the perspective of the other, and thorough highlight the weakness in the processes being taken where they can be shown.
Instead, the world is being forced into a position of spectators of leaders who actions or failure may plunge the world into an unprecedented crisis. Americans are united against North Korea’s actions, but question whether president Trump’s team is communicating with the dictatorship regime in the most efficient manner possible.
When tempers are flying, and continuous appeals for North Korea to toe the line of the international community is rejected, the right balance for negotiation can be missed. The quest for supreme power, the sort that enables a country’s leader to flex its muscles in a way beyond challenge, must be shunned and rebuked.