Japan joins US flotilla in East China Sea

Allies stepped up the pressure on Pyongyang on Wednesday as Japanese warships bolstered the US military flotilla off the Korean peninsula.

The move came as Chinese leader Xi Jinping called US President Trump on Tuesday to declare China is “committed to the goal of denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula… through peaceful means“, after Trump had tweeted that he hoped for Chinese help to ‘solve the problem’ of North Korea.

Japan and the US will carry out joint naval exercises, with aircraft flying between carriers, in a clear signal to leader Kim Jong-un to desist from missile tests.

Commentators observe that the regime could conduct missile tests on or around the 105th anniversary of the birth of the state’s founder, Kim Il-sung, on Saturday, according to reports in Singapore’s Straits Times.