Trump pledges new wave of 'major sanctions' on North Korea after call with China's Xi

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Simon Denyer November 29 at 10:15 AM

BEIJING — President Trump pledged Wednesday that “additional major sanctions” would be imposed on North Korea after Pyongyang's latest intercontinental missile test.

Trump’s statement followed a telephone conversation with his Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country is an economic lifeline for North Korea. Beijing’s backing is needed for any additional economic pressures on the regime of Kim Jong Un, and it was unclear how far China could go in applying new sanctions.

“Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the latest provocative actions of North Korea,” Trump tweeted. “Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!”

On Wednesday, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, its third and most advanced yet, with experts calculating that the U.S. capital is now technically within North Korean reach.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-missile-test-provides-a-fresh-challenge-for-trumps-relationship-with-china/2017/11/29/c35f0880-d4e1-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html

[Fred Sanders]

1. Point of order and logic: why would NK fire a 10000 mile missile only 1000 miles?

Seems like same old same old. But if I just had a 3 carrier war armada practising invasion just off shore I might tend to exaggerate a bit myself.

[Eugene]

2. Crashing the missile in the Sea of Japan is playing it safe, relatively speaking.

They shot the missile almost 3,000 miles straight up. A more conventional trajectory could have taken the missile 8,800 miles.

They got a 30+ minute burn without landing it near Guam.

[BobTheSubgenius]

3. Keeping a close eye on NK is obviously prudent and vital.

But, I think it's noteworthy that, so far, they have managed to hit the ocean. I live on an island, and with no physics background, am pretty confident that even I could hit the ocean.