Trump declares NoKor ‘threat to civilized world’
TOKYO (AP) — Declaring that North Korea was “a threat to the civilized world,” US President Donald Trump vowed yesterday in Japan that the United States “will not stand” for Pyongyang menacing America or its allies.
Trump, in one of the Asian capitals threatened by North Korea’s missiles, did not rule out military action and exhorted dictator Kim Jong-un to cease weapons testing like the missiles he has fired over Japanese territory in recent weeks.
The president also denounced efforts by the Obama administration to manage Pyongyang, declaring again that “the era of strategic patience was over.”
”Some people say my rhetoric is very strong, but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric in the last 25 years,” said Trump, who stood with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a news conference and stated that North Korea imperiled “international peace and stability.”
Abe, who has taken a more hawkish view on North Korea than some of his predecessors, agreed with Trump’s assessment that “all options on the table” when dealing with Kim and announced new sanctions against several dozen North Korea individuals.
The two men also put a face on the threat posed by the North, earlier standing with anguished families of Japanese citizens snatched by Pyongyang’s agents, as Trump called their kidnappings “a tremendous disgrace.”
Trump pledged to work to return the missing to their families, intensifying the pressure on Kim by elevating these heart-wrenching tales of loss to the international stage in hopes of pushing Pyongyang to end its provocative behavior toward American allies in the region.