North Korea Dares Trump, Fires Another Missile Into Japan

It is one of the several missiles Pyongyang has tested in recent months, despite several warnings from the United States.

“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in the statement.

The test comes just a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit in Florida, and as the U.S., Japan and South Korea wrap up a round of trilateral naval military drills off the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S has been pushing China to put pressure on North Korea to stop its nuclear program and missile testing, but Trump said on Sunday the United States would be prepared to act with or without Beijing to stop North Korea.

A senior White House official on Tuesday said: “The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table,” pointing to the failure of successive administrations’ efforts to negotiate an end to the country’s nuclear program.

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests including two last year. The country has been described as one of the biggest challenge of the international intelligence community.

A former director of the CIA, Michael Hayden, said on Tuesday that if Kim Jon Hun is not stopped now, Pyongyang will be able to send a missile to the United States before 2020.

“Before the end of President Trump’s current term, the North Koreans will probably be able to reach Seattle with an indigenously produced nuclear weapon aboard an indigenously produced intercontinental ballistic missile,” Hayden told students of Johns Hopkins University.