Military ‘locked and loaded,’ Trump warns North Korea
Kim Jong Un will ‘regret it fast’ if he takes any action against U.S. territories or allies, says U.S. president
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday issued another warning of swift and forceful retaliation against nuclear North Korea, declaring the U.S. military “locked and loaded.” He said the isolated nation’s leader “will regret it fast” if he takes any action against U.S. territories and allies.
The latest threat appeared to draw another red line that would trigger a U.S. attack and for a fourth day in a row ratcheted up a rhetorical standoff between the two nations. Trump’s comments, however, did not appear to be backed by significant military mobilization on either side of the Pacific, and an important, quiet diplomatic channel remained open.
Speaking to reporters from his New Jersey golf resort, Trump declined to explain precisely what he meant by the boast of military readiness. He brushed away calls for caution from world leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel. And he directly called out Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, as a destabilizing force who should not be allowed to continue his course.
“If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat — which by the way he has been uttering for years and his family has been uttering for years — or he does anything with respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast,” Trump said.