Trump: My ‘fire and fury’ threat to Kim wasn’t tough enough
DONALD Trump last night said his unprecedented ‘fire and fury’ warning to North Korea ‘wasn’t tough enough’.
In astonishing remarks that threatened to escalate tensions even further, the US President also warned that North Korea had ‘ better get their act together or they are going to be in trouble like few nations have ever been in trouble’.
When asked about launching a preemptive strike to deny Kim Jong-un the chance to attack the US, he said: ‘We’ll see what happens.
‘If North Korea does anything in terms of even thinking about attacking anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us, they should be very, very nervous. I’ll tell you what. And they should be very nervous. Because things will happen to them like they never thought possible.’
Mr Trump said the US ‘of course’ would always consider negotiations with North Korea, but added that talks had failed for the last 25 years. On Kim, he said: ‘He’s been pushing the world around for a long time.’
Addressing reporters last night during his holiday at his New Jersey golf club, he also announced he was planning to pump huge amounts of cash into the nation’s anti-missile programmes.
The president said: ‘We are going to be increasing our budget by many billions of dollars.’
America’s nuclear arsenal was in ‘ tip- top shape’ and getting stronger, he added.
Mr Trump also warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons, saying he would like to ‘de-nuke the world’. But until that happened, he said the US ‘will be the most powerful nuclear nation on earth, by far’.
His heated words came after the North said Mr Trump was ‘getting on the nerves’ of its soldiers, as it claimed a plan to fire four missiles near the US territory of Guam Nuclear tests: Kim Jong-un would be ready ‘within days’. State media said Hwasong-12 rockets would pass over Japan and land in the sea about 27km (16.8 miles) from the island which is home to two major US bases, if the plan was approved by dictator Kim.
Speaking after North Koreans gathered for a rally in a show of defiance in Pyongyang, the regime said the US leader was ‘senile’ and ‘ bereft of reason’. A statement read: ‘ Only absolute force can work on him … [Trump] let out a load of nonsense about “fire and fury” failing to grasp the ongoing grave situation.
‘This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the Korean People’s Army.’
It also elaborated on a threat to strike Guam, announcing that a salvo of rockets could be dropped into the Pacific just kilometres from the island by next week.
North Korea published images yesterday showing tens of thousands of people assembled on Kim Il- sung Square on Wednesday. The country’s workers lifted banners lauding the military and raised their right fists in the air to protest UN sanctions on the country, including a ban on coal and other exports worth £767million.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for negotiations with Kim, saying he hoped that one day North Korea would enter the ‘orbit of the rest of the world’. Mr Corbyn, a longstanding disarmament campaigner, said the idea of anyone using nuclear weapons was ‘unthinkable’.
On Tuesday Mr Trump sent a shudder through Asia as he threatened ‘fire and fury like the world has never seen’ against Kim’s regime. It came after US intelligence found the dictator had developed a nuclear warhead small enough to fit in an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Meanwhile Eddie Calvo, governor of Guam, said the island was prepared to meet Kim’s power.
A drumbeat of threats by North Korea over the years has fostered resilience among the island’s 162,000 inhabitants, he said.
Mr Calvo said: ‘We are prepared for any eventuality, more so than any other American community.’ Guam is a major military hub and home to US bombers and 7,000 troops on two main bases.
You will be destroyed From yesterday’s Mail