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Japan, US agree to take 'all necessary measures' against North Korea
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump agreed in a phone that Japanese, U.S., and South Korean allies may now take extra steps against North Korean antagonism. (Getty Images)

Japan, US agree to take 'all necessary measures' against North Korea

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he and President Donald Trump have agreed to take further actions against North Korea after the communist country's latest missile test.

North Korea conducted its second missile test in a month Friday, this time sending the missile toward the coast of Japan, where it splashed down into the East Sea, between the Korean peninsula and Japanese coast.

According to Fox News, Abe told reporters Monday he and Trump had a phone call after 10 hours of conducting U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers bomber drills, alongside South Korean and Japanese forces, over the Korean peninsula on Saturday. The drills were in response to North Korea's missile test.

According to Abe, both he and Trump have agreed that both countries will “take all necessary measures to protect” Japan. Abe praised Trump's commitment to do so.

South Korea and its allies have been pushing attempts at a de-escalation of tensions between the allied forces and North Korea, however the communist country has ignored offers for peace talks.

“We have made consistent efforts to resolve the North Korean problem in a peaceful manner, but North Korea has ignored that entirely and escalated the situation in a one-sided way,” Abe said, according to Bloomberg.

Abe also called for Russia and North Korea's primary ally, China, to take action as well.

“The international community, starting with China and Russia, must take this obvious fact seriously and increase pressure," Abe said.

Trump has been openly critical of China for its lack of help with North Korea's antagonistic behavior and continuation of its nuclear ballistic missile program. The president tweeted Saturday that he was "very disappointed in China" and that it has done "nothing" to help with the growing North Korea problem despite China making hundreds of billions of dollars in trade with the U.S.

According to Fox News, Abe and Trump agreed that North Korea is "a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries near and far."

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement last week that the U.S. will continue to hope for peace with North Korea but will not attempt to ease tensions forever. How much longer was never truly specified.

After North Korea's latest launch, however, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement that the time for talk with North Korea "is over" and that "the danger the North Korean regime poses to international peace is now clear to all," according to Fox News.

The first North Korean test this month occurred July 4. North Korean President Kim Jong Un called the missile test a “gift” for the “American bastards.”

According to the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, the ICBM has the capability to reach Hawaii and Alaska. This is two years ahead of where experts thought North Korea would be in its missile program.

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