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Groton Daily Independent
Monday, July 31, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 031 ~ 25 of 42
Haley said a weak resolution would show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that “the international community is unwilling to challenge him,” and singled out China, the North’s biggest trading partner, as a country that must change its approach.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and President Donald Trump spoke by phone Monday morning Asia time and have agreed to take further action against North Korea. Abe said Trump pledged to “take all necessary measures to protect” Japan and that Abe praised his commitment to do so.
Abe said Japan would pursue con- crete steps to bolster defense system and capabilities under the rm soli- daritywiththeU.S.anddoutmostto protect the safety of the Japanese people.
Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Paci c Air Forces commander, called NorthKorea“themosturgentthreat to regional stability.”
In this photo released by Japan Air Self Defense Force, U.S.AirForceB-1Bbombers,top, ywithaJapanAirSelf Defense Force F-2 ghter jet over Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, just south of the Korean Peninsula, during a Japan-U.S. joint exercise Sunday, July 30, 2017. Japan’s Defense Ministry reported the U.S. supersonic bombers ownfromtheAndersonAirForceBaseinGuamconducted a joint exercise with South Korean Air Force over the Ko- reanPeninsulalaterintheday.TheU.S.Paci cAirForces said in a statement that the mission was a response to consecutiveintercontinentalballisticmissiletestsbyNorth Koreathismonth.(JapanAirSelfDefenseForceviaAP)
“Diplomacyremainsthelead.How-
ever, we have a responsibility to our
allies and our nation to showcase
ourunwaveringcommitmentwhile
planning for the worst-case scenario,”
O’Shaughnessy said. “If called upon,
we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal, and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that North Korea’s latest test presents a clear and present danger to the United States.
“I’ve spent time on the intelligence and at the brie ngs, and done as much reading as I possibly could,” said Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “And I’m convinced that North Korea has never moved at the speed that this leader has to develop an ICBM.”
Feinstein said the situation shows the danger of isolating a country.
“I think the only solution is a diplomatic one,” she said. “I’m very disappointed in China’s response, that it has not been rmer or more helpful.”
The United States often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened tensions with North Korea. B-1 bombers have been sent to South Korea for yovers several times this year in response to the North’s banned missile tests, and also following the death of a U.S. college student last month after he was re- leased by North Korea in a coma.
The Hwasong-14 ICBM, which the North rst tested on July 4, is the highlight of several new weapons systems Pyongyang launched this year. They include an intermediate range missile that North Korea says is capable of hitting Alaska and Hawaii, and a solid-fuel midrange missile, which analysts say can be red faster and more secretly than liquid-fuel missiles.
Gen. Lori Robinson, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, responsible for homeland defense, said in a statement that the ICBM launched Friday “served