Rhetoric ramps up over Korea
North’s top diplomat calls Trump’s tweet ‘declaration of war’
North Korea’s top diplomat said Monday U.S. President Donald Trump’s weekend tweet was a “declaration of war” and North Korea has the right to retaliate by shooting down U.S. bombers, even in international airspace.
It was the latest escalation in a week of undiplomatic exchanges between North Korea and the U.S. during the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting.
Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters the UN and the international community have said in recent days they didn’t want “the war of words” to turn into “real action.”
But he said by tweeting that North Korea’s leadership led by Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer,” Trump “declared the war on our country.”
Under the UN Charter, Ri said, North Korea has the right to self-defence and “every right” to take countermeasures, “including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers even when they’re not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”
Hours later, the White House pushed back on Ri’s claim, saying: ‘We have not declared war’ on North Korea. The Trump administration, referring to Trump’s tweet, also clarified it is not seeking to overthrow North Korea’s government.
Trump tweeted Saturday: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Trump also used the derisive “Rocket Man” reference to Kim in his Sept. 19 speech to the UN General Assembly, but this time he added the word “little.”
Trump’s national security adviser said North Korea must accept inspections of its nuclear facilities and declare it’s willing to give up its atomic weapons before the U.S. will negotiate with its government.
National Security Council director H.R. McMaster also said the Trump administration has gamed out “four to five” scenarios in which the North Korea nuclear threat is resolved. “Some are uglier than others,” he said Monday in a speech hosted by the Institute for the Study of War.
“What we hope to do is avoid war, but we cannot discount that possibility.”
He said it would be “unacceptable” for North Korea to achieve a ballistic missile tipped with a nuclear warhead, technology the country has not yet demonstrated.
This was not the first time North Korea has spoken about a declaration of war between the two countries. In July 2016, Pyongyang said U.S. sanctions imposed on Kim were a “declaration of war” and it made a similar statement after a new round of UN sanctions in December. The North Korean leader used the words again Friday.
The foreign minister’s brief statement to reporters outside his hotel before heading off in a motorcade, reportedly to return home, built on the escalating rhetoric between Kim and Trump.
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump told world leaders Tuesday. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”
Kim responded with the first direct statement from a North Korean leader against a U.S. president, lobbing a string of insults at Trump.
“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire,” he said, choosing the rarely used word “dotard,” which means an old person who is weak minded.
On Monday, Ri escalated the threat saying Trump’s weekend claim that North Korea’s leaders would soon be gone “is clearly a declaration of war.”
All UN members and the world “should clearly remember that it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country,” the foreign minister said, declaring North Korea now has the right to take countermeasures and retaliate against U.S. bombers.
Ri ended his brief remarks by saying: “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
North Korea has repeatedly said it needs a nuclear deterrent because the U.S. intends to invade it. Ri told the General Assembly Saturday the DPRK’s recent “ICBM-mountable H-bomb test” was a key step to completing its nuclear force.
He called it a “war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion.
“Our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S.,” the foreign minister said.
— With files from Bloomberg News
“What we hope to do is avoid war, but we cannot discount that possibility.” — H.R. McMaster