U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, in Tokyo on Monday.
From left: Hitomi Soga, Shigeo Iizuka,Abe’s wife Akie, Abe, Trump, U.S. first lady Melania, Sakie Yokota and Akihiro Arimura. Photo: Kimimasa Mayama/Pool via AP
Declaring that North Korea was “a threat to the civilized world,” U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Monday in Japan that the United States “will not stand” for Pyongyang menacing America or its allies.
Trump, in one of the Asian capitals threatened by North Korea’s missiles, did not rule out military action and exhorted dictator Kim Jong Un to cease weapons testing like the missiles he has fired over Japanese territory in recent weeks. The president also denounced efforts by the Obama administration to manage Pyongyang, declaring again that “the era of strategic patience was over.”
“Some people say my rhetoric is very strong but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric in last 25 years,” said Trump, who stood with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a news conference and stated that North Korea imperiled “international peace and stability.”
Abe, who has taken a more hawkish view on North Korea than some of his predecessors, agreed with Trump’s assessment that “all options on the table” when dealing with Kim Jong Un and announced new sanctions against several dozen North Korea individuals. The two men also put a face on the threat posed by the North, earlier standing with anguished families of Japanese citizens snatched by Pyongyang’s agents, as Trump called their abductions “a tremendous disgrace.”
Trump pledged to work to return the missing to their families, intensifying the pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by elevating these heart-wrenching tales of loss to the international stage in hopes of pushing Pyongyang to end its provocative behavior toward American allies in the region.
“We’ve just heard the very sad stories about family members – daughters, wives, brothers uncles, fathers – it’s a very, very sad number of stories that we’ve heard,” Trump said
Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood with nearly two dozen relatives, some of whom held photos of the missing. North Korea has acknowledged apprehending 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, but claims they all died or have been released. But in Japan, where grieving relatives of the abducted have become a symbol of heartbreak on the scale of American POW families, the government insists many more were taken – and that some may still be alive.
Trump has delivered harsh denunciations of Kim, belittling him as “Little Rocket Man” but suggested that it would be “a tremendous signal” if North Korea returned the captives.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife Akie show off calligraphy they wrote during a visit to a calligraphy class at Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School in Tokyo, Monday. The calligraphy reads: “Peace.” Photo: AP/Shizuo Kambayashi
Meanwhile, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump learned about Japanese calligraphy at a Tokyo elementary school.
The first lady visited the school Monday with her Japanese counterpart, Akie Abe. About 300 children welcomed them with a school song. Trump posed for photos, shook hands and slapped high fives with the kids.
In the calligraphy class, she wrote the first Chinese letter of “peace,” as Abe wrote the second letter.
