Acting defense secretary breaks with Trump on North Korea missile launches
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches violate a United Nations Security Council resolution, breaking with President Trump.
“The short-range missile, is that a violation? Yes,” he told reporters Wednesday while on a trip to Asia. “These were short-range missiles and those are a violation of the UNSCR.”
Both national security adviser John Bolton and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo considered the launches a violation, but Trump downplayed their significance during a state visit to Japan over the weekend.
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”My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently,” Trump said during a news conference standing next to Abe and with Bolton a few steps away.
“All I know is that there have been no nuclear tests. There have been no ballistic missiles going out. There have been no long-range missiles going out. And I think that someday we’ll have a deal,” Trump continued.
North Korea test fired a number of short-range missiles on May 4 and May 9 – the first launches since 2017 – setting off alarms among US allies in the region.