US said to weigh shooting down all North Korean missiles

The US is weighing shooting down North Korean ballistic missiles regardless of whether they threaten US interests or those of its allies, CNN reported Tuesday.

The report quoted a defense official saying the potential for considering such a scenario remained “very real,” given North Korea’s recent launch of two missiles over Japan.

Another official, said to be “directly familiar with options planning” in the Trump administration, said there was a real question now as to whether North Korean President Kim Jong Un’s missile program had become such a threat that the Pentagon would recommend downing it even if it were not aimed at the US or its allies.

A third US official said the US expects North Korea to carry out additional tests on its intercontinental ballistic missile now that its intermediate range ballistic missile has proven its success.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday told the UN General Assembly in New York that if war were to break out between the two countries over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said in reference to Kim. “It is time for North Korea to realize that denuclearization is its only acceptable future.”

Defense Secretary James Mattis told journalists on Monday that North Korea was “intentionally doing provocations that seem to press against the envelope for just how far can they push without going over some kind of a line in their minds that would make them vulnerable.”

Last month, North Korean state media threatened launching ballistic missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.