NORTH KOREA WARNED OVER ‘RECKLESS BEHAVIOUR’
Trump derides ‘Rocket Man’ Kim Jong Un
• North Korea faces destruction if it continues to threaten the U.S. and its allies, according to one of Donald Trump’s most senior diplomats, while the president unveiled the dismissive new nickname of “Rocket Man” for the country’s erratic ruler.
With world leaders in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which North Korea’s nuclear program is expected to dominate, administration figures said time was running out for a diplomatic solution.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said North Korea was starting to feel the pinch of sanctions but added that she would be happy to turn the matter over to the military.
“We all know that if North Korea continues with this reckless behaviour and if the United States has to defend itself or its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed,” she said.
The warnings came a day after Kim Jong Un promised to continue his weapons program, saying he was close to reaching equilibrium with U.S. military force despite fresh UN sanctions last week.
Kim has threatened Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, and has fired two missiles over Japan, including one that was launched on Friday.
North Korea also recently tested its most powerful bomb.
For his part, Trump tweeted that he had discussed the matter with Moon Jae In, the South Korean president, during a phone call on Saturday
“I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night,” he wrote Sunday. “Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!”
Trump’s use of nicknames was a feature of the primary and election campaigns last year, and credited with helping defeat “Low Energy” Jeb Bush for the Republican nomination and implanting “Crooked Hillary” into the nation’s psyche.
H.R. McMaster, the White House national security adviser, warned of the imminent danger from Pyongyang.
“This regime is so close now to threatening the United States and others with a nuclear weapon, that we really have to move with a great sense of urgency on sanctions, on diplomacy and preparing, if necessary, a military option,” he told Fox News Sunday.
Meanwhile, the administration is still trying to explain its stance on the Paris climate accords, after a weekend headline suggested European officials had been told the U.S. would not be withdrawing after all.
Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, said Trump was willing to work with foreign leaders to find terms that were acceptable to the U.S.