Missile launch tests Trump's North Korea strategy

WASHINGTON -- The latest North Korean missile launch comes as President Donald Trump appears to be reassessing his strategy for the region, which has emphasized tough talk and collaboration with China.

Trump responded quickly after North Korea on Tuesday tested a missile that flew higher and longer than previous ones, criticizing leader Kim Jong Un and urging China to "put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!" But he offered no specifics on a path ahead.

White House officials did not respond to questions about what Trump meant. Since he entered the White House, Trump has talked about confronting Pyongyang and pushing China to increase pressure on the North, but neither strategy has produced fast results. The White House has been threatening to move forward on its own, though administration officials have not settled on next steps.

Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert with the Center for a New American Security, said Trump probably was "coming to the point of no return" with North Korea, adding the upshot could be diplomatic overtures or military action.

"We either go to the diplomatic table with Kim Jong Un, or we do take some course of action," Cronin said. "In all probability, we do both."

Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, discussing North Korea and its nuclear program with both leaders. He will meet them both this week at the Group of 20 meeting in Germany, as well as have his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump and Xi emerged from their first meeting -- in April at the U.S. president's Florida estate -- seemingly as fast friends.

But China long has resisted intensifying economic pressure on neighboring North Korea, in part out of fear of the instability that could mount on its doorstep, and Trump has not found a way to break through Beijing's old habits.

Trump has expressed frustration recently with North Korea's nuclear ambitions, which have become one of his most vexing international problems. During a joint statement in the Rose Garden last week with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump said the "the era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed."

The president added he wants "peace, stability and prosperity" for the region but warned the United States will "always" defend itself and its allies.

China and Russia released a joint statement today proposing North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests while the United States and South Korea refrain from large-scale military exercises.

The latest launch appeared to be North Korea's most successful missile test. The country claimed it had test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The U.S. military's initial assessment, though, was it was an intermediate-range missile. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said the missile did not pose a threat to North America.

David Wright, a nuclear and missile expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Tuesday he calculates the missile was of intercontinental range, meaning it was capable of traveling more than 3,410 miles. He said it could potentially strike Alaska.

Jean Lee, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, said in a statement that the missile launch is "Pyongyang's way of sending a message of defiance to the U.S. and South Korean leaders."

"It's also strategic," said Lee, a former Associated Press bureau chief in Pyongyang. "If the U.S. and South Korea are going to step up sanctions, North Korea will certainly move faster in getting its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs as far along as they can before any negotiations on a freeze or dismantlement."

Democratic Sen. Edward Markey, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that Trump must offer a "coherent strategy of direct diplomacy with Pyongyang and increased economic sanctions pressure from China."

Markey, of Massachusetts, said Trump "must realize that there is no military solution to this threat. Unilateral action will only escalate tension, increase the paranoia of Kim Jong Un, and bring us closer to what everyone agrees would be a catastrophic war."