SEOUL (Reuters) - The top U.S. and South Korean military officers agreed to make a strong response to North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch on Tuesday, including possible unspecified military measures, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.
The chairmen of both countries’ Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed on a phone call “to take response measures at the earliest possible time that can demonstrate the alliance’s strong will including military measures,” Yonhap reported, quoting the South Korean military.
The Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul could not be reached immediately for confirmation. A South Korean defense ministry official said there was no immediate plan to change joint military drills being conducted by the South Korean and U.S. militaries.
President Trump said all options to respond to North Korea were on the table after Pyongyang’s latest launch.
“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” Trump said in the statement released by the White House.
“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table,” Trump said.