U.S. Calls Emergency Meeting of UN Security Council Over NorK ICBM

As PJ Media and others reported yesterday, North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a long enough potential range to endanger Alaska and Hawaii, as well as U.S. forces and allies over much of the Far East.

In response, the U.S. has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, according to the Daily Mail:

The US has requested a closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council on North Korea’s latest missile launch, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations says.

The spokesman said the meeting of the 15-member council was likely to be scheduled for Wednesday.

President Trump has been applying pressure on China to take steps to restrain North Korea, On Tuesday, he tweeted:

North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017

Russia and China announced a joint agreement Tuesday proposing that:

North Korea should halt missile tests and the United States should not deploy a missile shield or conduct large-scale military exercises with South Korea.

The joint agreement came after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow and follows what the North Korean regime claims was a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The agreement was first reported by Reuters.

“We’ve agreed to promote our joint initiative, based on Russian step-by-step Korean settlement plan and Chinese ideas to simultaneously freeze North Korean nuclear and missile activities, and U.S. and South Korean joint military drills,” Putin said at a press conference.

How this agreement would be enforced, or in fact whether the agreement included any discussion was not disclosed.  It does appear to be a clear challenge to President Trump and the U.S.