Japanese officials are “miffed” over United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley’s decision to appear at a White House press briefing as the critical situation in North Korea escalates, CNN’s Jim Acosta reports.
"The Japanese are miffed,” one senior official told Acosta.
Haley’s appearance at the press briefing comes after North Korea Thursday flew a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, over the Japanese island Hokkaido. The demonstration is the second in less than a month, and comes after the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to sanction the rogue regime over it’s increasingly defiant posture. It also comes after the nation’s sixth nuclear test of a hydrogen bomb earlier this month. In a statement following the launch of that ballistic missile, North Korea promised to "sink Japan and turn America to ashes.”
In a public statement, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch “totally unacceptable” that challenged "the international community's strong, united will for a peaceful solution.” But privately, officials are concerned the United States is not taking a proactive enough approach to the threat posed by Kim Jong-un’s regime.
According to Acosta, senior officials in Donald Trump’s administration are questioning why Haley is attending Friday’s White House briefing instead of attending strategy meetings with allies at the United Nations.
"Priorities?" on source asked Acosta.