Anchor: U.S. President Donald Trump continued to downplay recent North Korean missile firings and criticized recent joint drills with South Korea as "unnecessary." The remarks came a day after North Korea tested what it described as a "super-large" multiple rocket launch system, the seventh projectile test since leader Kim Jong-un met Trump at the inter-Korean border in June.
Arius Derr has more.

Report: U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned the necessity of combined South Korea-U.S. military exercises while continuing to downplay North Korea’s short-range missile provocations.

Speaking to reporters alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at this year’s G7 summit in France, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday he thinks the exercises are "unnecessary.”

[Sound bite: U.S. President Donald Trump]
"I said that to all of my people. I said, I don’t want to interfere because I think if you want to do them, you can do them, if you think it’s necessary. But I think it’s a total waste of money. And they did a modified version of them... but I think it was unnecessary to do, frankly."

The U.S. president has made similar statements in the past, calling joint drills with South Korea costly and “very provocative.” North Korea has also been highly critical of the August exercises.

Regarding recent short-range ballistic missile launches by the North, Trump again downplayed them and said he was “not happy” about the firings but they did not violate an agreement.

[Sound bite: U.S. President Donald Trump]
“I discussed long range ballistic, and that he cannot do, and he hasn't been doing it, and he hasn't been doing nuclear testing. He has done short range, much more standard missiles. A lot of people are testing those missiles not just him. A lot of people are testing those missiles. We're in the world of missiles, folks, whether you like it or not."

Prime Minister Abe, however, was more severe in his assessment, calling the North's missiles a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and "extremely regrettable." 

[Sound bite: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Japanese)]
“Our position is very clear that the launch of short range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates the relevant UN Security Council resolution. The recent launches are extremely regrettable”

Nevertheless, Abe said he and Trump “will always stay on the same page when it comes to North Korea” and that he supports the U.S.-North Korea process “one-hundred percent.”

North Korea fired on Saturday what it called a “super-large" multiple rocket launch system, squelching hopes that the missiles would cease once August’s joint exercises concluded.

With Washington's two main Asian allies at odds and working-level denuclearization talks stalled, it may become increasingly more difficult for Trump to discount North Korea's provocations the longer they continue. 
Arius Derr, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]