Trump to Kim Jong Un: Military Strike ‘Would Be a Sad Day for North Korea’
Fred Lucas /
President Donald Trump warned it would be a “very sad day for North Korea” if the United States had to use a military option to confront the regime’s aggressive nuclear testing and audacious threats.
“Military action would certainly be an option. Is it inevitable? Nothing’s inevitable,” @POTUS says.
Over the weekend, North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong Un tested a hydrogen bomb and warned the country could attack the United States power grid with an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP.
“Military action would certainly be an option. Is it inevitable? Nothing’s inevitable,” Trump said Thursday during a joint press conference at the White House with Kuwait leader Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
“I would prefer not to go the military route, but it’s certainly something that could happen. Our military has never been stronger,” Trump continued. “Each day new equipment is delivered, new and beautiful equipment, the best in the world, the best anywhere in the world by far. Hopefully we are not going to have to use it on North Korea. If we do use it on North Korea, it would be a very sad day for North Korea.”
Trump has previously shown resolve against North Korean saber-rattling by saying any attack on the United States would be met with “fire and fury.” His comments Thursday were comparably milder.
“We would have to look at all of the details, all of the facts, but we’ve had presidents for 25 years now, they’ve been talking, talking, talking, and the day after an agreement is reached, new work begins in North Korea, continuation on nuclear,” he said.
When pressed, Trump did not answer whether it was acceptable for North Korea to be nuclearized but contained, but took a shot at his predecessor, President Barack Obama.
“I’m not negotiating with you,” he told a reporter. “Maybe we’ll have a chance to negotiate with somebody else, but I don’t put my negotiations on the table, unlike past administrations. I don’t talk about them, but I can tell you that North Korea’s behaving badly, and it’s got to stop.”