Trump and Abe discuss grave and growing threat from North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agree on the need for further action against Pyongyang, hours after the U.S. envoy to the United Nations announced that Washington is "done talking about North Korea." 

A call to action from the leaders of Japan and the U.S. over North Korea. 

Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump holding a phone call on Monday (July 31). The Japanese Prime Minister saying after the call that efforts to find a peaceful solution to the North's Nuclear program isn't working out.

"President Trump and I completely agreed that we must also take further action," he said. "We will make every possible effort to protect our citizens' safety against the threat from North Korea."

But officials say the two leaders stopped short of discussing military action, instead, calling on the international community, including Russia and China, to step up pressure on Pyongyang.

The call came just hours after the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said Washington is done talking about North Korea, and that any new U.N. resolution is of no value unless pressure on the regime is significantly increased.

Following Friday's (July 28) ballistic missile launch, President Trump has taken particular aim at China for not doing enough to rein in North Korea.

Beijing's state media fired back on Monday (July 31), with an editorial in the Global Times saying that that comment doesn't help the situation, and could only have been made by a quote "green-horn US president who knows little about the North Korean nuclear issue".

Senior officials in South Korea say President Moon Jae-in is also planning to hold a call with Trump, a conversation, they say, that will most likely focus on imposing heavy sanctions on the North.