Trump warns North Korea of fire and fury
WASHINGTON — With crossed arms and a cold stare, U.S. President Donald Trump uttered the most threatening words of his presidency on Tuesday, warning of a strike of unprecedented “fire,” “fury,” and “power” against North Korea in an escalating, nuclear-themed standoff.
He delivered that warning after reports that North Korea had crossed a key threshold in becoming a full-fledged nuclear power — with an alleged new ability to mount a miniaturized nuclear warhead atop a longrange missile.
A reporter asked the president about this development during an unrelated meeting about 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,” Trump said.
“[North Korea’s leader] 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.” Those 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. People parsed the president’s words to gauge their level of seriousness.
Some noticed Trump had been casually repeating a similar turn of phrase all day. Of opioid deaths, he said: “It’s a problem the likes of which we have never seen.” On his southern border plan, Trump said: “The likes of which this country certainly has never seen.”
He then applied the same language to a nuclear confrontation.
A North Korean defector and journalist predicted some of these developments several weeks ago in an email exchange with the Canadian Press. Writing through a translator, North Korea-raised, Seoul-based journalist Joo Sungha said the regime was very close to gaining nuclear-tipped 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 neighbours such as South Korea and seeking to sell the technology to other hostile actors.
Several people expressed fear the president’s mouth might cause a catastrophe. Sen. John McCain said the danger of uttering such words is they push you into a corner, with only two options: back up the words with violence, or back down in embarrassment.
A national-security aide to former U.S. president Barack Obama, Tommy Vietor, tweeted: “The president of the United States shouldn’t sound like Kim Jong-un. It antagonizes everyone while accomplishing nothing.”
But some national-security experts downplayed the day’s developments. Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, said North Korea was a threat to its immediate neighbours, but was far from having a workable, intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S.: “Stop hyperventilating. Please,” he tweeted.