North Korea’s successful launch of a missile that for the first time
could reach the U.S. mainland ratchets up the pressure on President
Trump and other world leaders to resolve a growing nuclear crisis with
no easy solution.
The test launch came on the Fourth of July, and just three days before a Group of 20 summit convenes in Hamburg, Germany. The timing is almost certainly not coincidental. North Korea uses such occasions to call attention to its provocative acts — and its test elevates the urgency with which Trump and U.S. allies may feel compelled to respond. Hours after the North Korean launch, the Eighth U.S. Army and South Korean military fired surface-to-surface missiles into South Korean waters in a demonstration of capability, the U.S. Army said in a statement.
Trump has repeatedly called on China to rein in its neighbor and close ally. China on Tuesday suggested a compromise: North Korea would stop missile tests if the United States and South Korea scaled back military exercises in the region.
The test launch came on the Fourth of July, and just three days before a Group of 20 summit convenes in Hamburg, Germany. The timing is almost certainly not coincidental. North Korea uses such occasions to call attention to its provocative acts — and its test elevates the urgency with which Trump and U.S. allies may feel compelled to respond. Hours after the North Korean launch, the Eighth U.S. Army and South Korean military fired surface-to-surface missiles into South Korean waters in a demonstration of capability, the U.S. Army said in a statement.
Trump has repeatedly called on China to rein in its neighbor and close ally. China on Tuesday suggested a compromise: North Korea would stop missile tests if the United States and South Korea scaled back military exercises in the region.
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