The Associated Press reported that Kim vowed never to abandon nuclear weapons and to keep sending Washington more “gift packages.”
Turner, who spoke Friday live on Miami Valley’s Morning News with Larry Hansgen on AM 1290 and News 95.7 WHIO is chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces.
Turner, R-Dayton, said he has been briefed by Defense Secretary James Mattis on ways the U.S. could respond to missile threats from North Korea.
“I’ve been in two classified briefings with Secretary Mattis and about five public briefings and I can tell you that this weighs heavy on his agenda.”
Turner said diplomatic channels are our focus, but military options are on the table. He said Mattis “is making sure that the United States is prepared” and focused on missile defense.
Turner also said China has to take a more aggressive approach to North Korea.
“China has allowed this to happen, they have funded the North Korean regime,” Turner said. “They have allowed it to be the most brutal, isolated regime that’s on the planet.”
He said China needs to “step up.”
“The president (Trump) has been correct in putting this blame and focus on China. The international community should join us.”
Latest from AP reporter Foster Klug:
A North Korean test of an ICBM, confirmed later by U.S. and South Korean officials, is a momentous step forward for Pyongyang as it works to build an arsenal of long-range nuclear-armed missiles that can hit anywhere in the United States. The North isn’t there yet — some analysts suggest it will take several more years to perfect such an arsenal, and many more tests — but a successful launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a red line, after which it would only be a matter of time — if the country isn’t stopped.
Worry spread in Washington and at the United Nations, where the United States, Japan and South Korea requested a U.N. Security Council emergency session, to be held later Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. response would include “stronger measures to hold the DPRK accountable,” using an acronym for the nation’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The uproar only seemed to inspire the North, whose propaganda machine rarely fails to aggrandize its leader and its military or to thumb its nose at rivals Seoul and Washington.
A report in its state media Wednesday described leader Kim as “feasting his eyes” on the ICBM, which was said to be capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, before its launch. “With a broad smile on his face,” Kim urged his scientists to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees,” an apparent reference to continuing the stream of nuclear and missile tests Kim has ordered since taking power in late 2011.
The North was also pleased that its test came as Americans celebrated Independence Day. Kim, the state media report said, told “scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased to witness the DPRK’s strategic option as it was given a ‘package of gifts’ incurring its disfavor by the DPRK on its ‘Independence Day.’” The North has a history of conducting weapons test on or around July 4.
Kim reportedly “stressed that the protracted showdown with the U.S. imperialists has reached its final phase and it is the time for the DPRK to demonstrate its mettle to the U.S., which is testing its will in defiance of its warning.”
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