Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Locked & loaded
Trump raises rhetoric against North Korea with military threat
DONALD Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against North Korea by warning dictator Kim Jong-un America is “locked and loaded”.
The President increased ongoing tensions between the two countries yesterday by taking to Twitter while enjoying a working holiday.
He wrote: “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully, Kim Jong Un will find another path!”
Mr Trump’s warning from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, came after China’s state-owned newspaper the Global Times said Beijing would intervene if America attacks North Korea first to “overthrow” it – but “stay neutral” if Kim launches the initial assault.
Tensions between the US and North Korea have been escalating in recent days. Pyongyang said it planned a nuclear strike on the US territory of Guam after Mr Trump told the rogue state threats against America would be met with “fire and fury”.
Criticism from other world leaders only served to fire up Trump further.
“If anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough,” he said.
When asked what could be tougher than “fire and fury like the world has never seen”, Trump responded: “We’ll see.” He would not comment on whether he is considering a pre-emptive strike.
He said: “The people of this country should be very comfortable, and I’ll tell you this: If North Korea does anything in terms of even thinking about attack, of anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us, they should be very nervous. Because things will happen to them like they never thought possible.”
The stand-off between the two nations has unsettled regional allies, which are scrambling to defuse tensions.
Guam, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, is home to a US Navy base and the Andersen Air Force Base.
American B-1B bombers based there flew sorties over the Korean peninsula on Tuesday. Two days later, North Korean state media KCNA said military leaders were planning to launch four intermediaterange Hwasong-12 missiles into the sea less than 25 miles off Guam.
Residents have been advised to avoid looking at the “flash or fireball” from a potential nuke as it could blind them, and to remove clothing to stop radioactive material spreading.
Homeland Security Advisor George Charfauros said a missile would take around 14 minutes to reach Guam “if it gets through all the US defence layers in place”.
North Korea had said the flight time would be just under 18 minutes.
Mr Trump replied to Kim’s threat to hit Guam by saying: “He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before. You’ll see. And he’ll see.”