President Donald Trump took aim at North Korea president Kim Jong-un saying ‘does this guy have anything better to do with his life?’ after the country launched a ballistic missile in its latest test-fire in recent months amid rising tensions with US.
Trump tweeted Monday night: ‘North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea 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!’
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the missile had been launched from the North Phyongan province in the direction of Japan on Monday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if this was a routine firing of a short-range missile or an attempt to perfect North Korea’s longer-range missiles.
Despite threats of tougher US sanctions over its aggressive tests, Kim Jong-un is relentlessly pressing on with his nuclear program.
The past few months has seen Pyongyang stepping up its military exercises and has tested at least four new missile systems – despite pressure from other countries to stop.
Today’s launch is the first by the North since a June 8 test of a new type of cruise missile that Pyongyang claimed is capable of striking US and South Korean warships ‘at will.’
In another show of defiance, earlier on Monday, Pyongyang released footage of Jong-un watching his troops destroy a mocked-up South Korean rocket during a huge military exercise. The tyrant could be seen grinning as special forces soldiers used grenades to blow up a replica Hyunmoo-3 cruise missile.