Nuclear faceoff
TRUMP FIRES VERBAL SHOT ON NEWS OF NUCLEAR WARHEAD
‘North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen’
With crossed arms and a cold stare, Donald Trump uttered what may have been the most threatening words of his presidency, warning Tuesday of a strike of unprecedented power against North Korea in an escalating nuclear-themed standoff.
He delivered that warning after reports that North Korea has crossed a key threshold in becoming a full- fledged nuclear power, with an alleged new ability to fit a miniaturized nuclear warhead atop a long-range missile.
A reporter asked the U.S. president about this development during an unrelated meeting concerning the opioid crisis, at the golf club where Trump is enjoying a 17-day holiday. Trump stared at the assembled cameras and raised the stakes.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” he said.
“(North Korean leader Kim Jong-un) has been very threatening beyond a normal statement and, as I said, they will be met with fire, fury and, frankly, power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
The words came as a jolt. Even the stock market appeared to freeze after a dayslong rally, with a dip Tuesday afternoon. A deluge of socialmedia commentary followed, ranging from dark humour to straight- up statements of alarm.
A North Korean defector and j ournalist predicted some of these developments several weeks ago in an email exchange with The Canadian Press. Writing through a translator, North Korearaised Seoul journalist Joo Sung-ha said the regime was very close to gaining nucleartipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Next it will use them as a bargaining chip, he predicted.
“It will seek to negotiate directly with the U. S.,” wrote the journalist, now with South Korea’s Dong- a Ilbo newspaper, predicting the demands it will make: “The goal of the regime is to receive a guarantee from the U. S. of full security of the regime’s own survival, a peace treaty and a large economic support package.”
He said the North Korean regime would want tens of billions of dollars in economic aid — otherwise it could escalate the risk in two ways: threatening such neighbours as South Korea, and seeking to sell the technology to other hostile actors.
Two aides to the past U. S. president expressed alarm.
A senior adviser to Barack Obama, Dan Pfeiffer, tweeted: “Don’t gloss over the fact that Trump threatened what can only be interpreted as a nuclear attack on North Korea if Kim Jong-un taunts him.”
A national-security aide to Obama, Tommy Vietor, said: “The President of the United States shouldn’t sound like Kim Jong-un. It antagonizes everyone while accomplishing nothing.”
The development arose after a Japanese defence paper and U. S. media reports said North Korea had crossed the nuclear Rubicon. “It is possible that North Korea has achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warheads,” Japan’s Defence Ministry concluded in an annual white paper released Tuesday.
U. S. media including The Washington Post reported U. S. intelligence officials believe a decade after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion, Pyongyang has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, including by intercontinental missiles — the type capable of reaching the continental U.S.
The UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea over its latest test of a ballistic missile that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon. Despite the rapid tempo of these tests, uncertainty has lingered over the isolated nation’s ability to couple such a missile with a nuclear device.
The Washington Post story, citing unnamed U. S. intelligence officials, said the confidential analysis was completed last month by the U. S. Defence Intelligence Agency. The U. S. also calculated North Korea has up to 60 nuclear weapons.