U.S. cites ‘consensus’ with China on North Korea; Reports suggest missile test sabotaged

by WorldTribune Staff, April 16, 2017

An “international consensus” that now includes China’s leader, asserts North Korea can’t be allowed to continue its missile tests, U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in Kabul on April 16.

McMaster’s comments came after a North Korea missile test failed in what reports say may have been an act of cyber sabotage.

Ballistic missiles in Pyongyang mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. / AFP / Getty Images

U.S. Pacific Command said it detected the failed missile launch just hours before Vice President Mike Pence landed in Seoul on an official visit to South Korea.

It said the missile “blew up almost immediately” after the attempted launch.

McMaster said that President Donald Trump will not allow Pyongyang to put the United States or its regional allies under threat.

He said the consensus, including China, is “that this problem is coming to a head. And so it’s time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully.”

Former British foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said that American intelligence has used cyber warfare to successfully foil missile tests before and that there is a “strong belief” the Trump administration was behind North Korea’s latest failed launch.

Speaking with the BBC, Rifkind said: “It could have failed because the system is not competent enough to make it work, but there is a very strong belief that the U.S. through cyber methods has been successful on several occasions in interrupting these sorts of tests and making them fail.”

Pence told U.S. soldiers at an Easter dinner that the “provocation from the North” was “just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face each and every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world.”

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