President Donald Trump had handwritten notes in black marker and all capital letters in front of him on Tuesday when he revealed news of North Korea’s latest missile launch.
The piece of paper was spotted on the table in front of Trump as he addressed reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House a few hours after the missile streaked across Korean and Japanese skies.
‘MISSILE WAS LAUNCHED FROM NORTH KOREA – WILL TAKE CARE OF IT,’ the note read.
Not straying far from his notes, Trump then told reporters: ‘A missile was launched a little while ago from North Korea. I will only tell you that we will take care of it. It is a situation that we will handle.’
President Donald Trump had handwritten notes in black marker and all capital letters in front of him on Tuesday when he revealed news of North Korea’s latest missile launch
The piece of paper was spotted on the table in front of Trump as he addressed reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House a few hours after the missile launch
North Korea’s latest rocket launch saw it shoot an intercontinental ballistic missile higher than ever before in their first test in more than two months.
It comes after Trump slapped fresh sanctions on Pyongyang and declared it a state sponsor of terrorism.
The missile launch prompted US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to warn that Pyongyang could soon threaten ‘everywhere in the world’ and that the latest missile test went ‘higher, frankly, than any previous shot they have taken.’
An initial assessment by the Pentagon said the missile flew about 620 miles before splashing down within 200 nautical miles of Japan’s coast.
One physicist said that the missile appeared to have a realistic range of just over 8,000 miles, which means Washington D.C. is now in range of Kim’s attacks – and that Australia and Europe are too.
North Korea has already carried out a record 15 missile tests this year (pictured is a July test) which showed it has developed an ICBM that can likely strike most of mainland America
The missile was launched eastward from Pyongsong in North Korea’s South Pyongan Province at around 3:30 a.m local time before landing in the Sea of Japan
The Republic of Korea Army released this photo on Tuesday showing South Korea’s surface-to-surface missile Hyunmoo -II being fired from an undisclosed location
‘If these numbers are correct, then if flown on a standard trajectory rather than this lofted trajectory, this missile would have a range of more than 13,000 kilometers (8,100 miles),’ David Wright, a co-director and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote on his organization’s blog.
‘Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington, DC, and in fact any part of the continental United States.’
The worrying assessment once again calls into question America’s anti-missile capabilities, and whether it and its allies can protect themselves from the threat of a nuclear-tipped ICBM.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the test an intolerable, ‘violent’ act and South Korean President Moon Jae-In condemning Pyongyang’s ‘reckless’ behavior.
The South Korean military responded to Tuesday’s launch by staging a precision strike missile exercise as it has done following previous North Korea tests.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and her counterparts from Japan and South Korea will hold an emergency Security Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the State Department said late Tuesday.
The missile launch was dictator Kim Jong-Un’s first such provocation since September 15