McMaster and Haley talk Trump’s response to North Korea missile test

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

National security advisor H.R. McMaster speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, May 16, 2017.

The latest North Korean escalation will feature prominently when Trump heads to the United Nations General Assembly in New York for the first time next week. The president will give remarks to the assembly on Tuesday, and meet with the leaders of South Korea and Japan on Thursday.

Haley repeatedly said the latest package of North Korea sanctions unanimously passed by the Security Council is significant, calling it a “massive sanctions package.”

“We have strangled their economic situation at this point,” Haley said, adding that the effects will take “a little bit of time.”

McMaster stressed that putting enough diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to curb its aggression will be a global effort.

The sanctions were announced days before North Korea’s latest provocation this week, the launching of a missile over Japan into the Pacific.