National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday that President Trump is ready to take action against any threats North Korea might pose to the U.S. after the country attempted a missile launch that failed.
In a clip released early from his interview on ABC’s “This Week,” McMaster, an Army officer, echoed his boss on U.S. military strategy, saying “we do not want to telegraph in any way how we’ll respond.”
What is clear, McMaster added, is “that the president is determined not to allow this kind of capability to threaten the United States. And our president will take action that is in the best interest of the American people.”
After North Korea's failed missile launch, H. R. McMaster says Trump "will take action that is in the best interest of the American people." pic.twitter.com/YhhsKfkBM1— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 16, 2017
North Korea attempted a missile launch that failed early Sunday local time. The missile blew up right after it was launched, according to the U.S. military.
The launch occurred one day following the 105th birthday of its country’s late founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. The South Korean military said North Korea attempted to launch the missile near the port city of Sinpo on its east coast on Sunday local time.
It comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. The country has conducted two nuclear tests and about two dozen missile tests in the last year.
McMaster spoke from the U.S. embassy in Kabul, where he was meeting with Afghan officials on Sunday following the Trump administration’s use of a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, one of the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever used in combat, against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan last week.
McMaster also spoke on the U.S. relationship with Russia, which he said “has nowhere to go but up.”
