North Korean stand-off ‘is like the Cuban missile crisis’
‘US deadly serious about provocation’
NORTH Korea’s stand-off with the US over its nuclear weapons programme is similar to the Cuban missile crisis, a former UK foreign secretary has said.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind said yesterday that Donald Trump was ‘deadly serious’ in seeing Kim Jong-Un’s acts of provocation as a ‘strategic threat to America’.
He also raised the prospect of the US blitzing Pyongyang’s ballistic missile stockpiles before the country develops the capability to strike the US mainland.
Edinburgh-born Sir Malcolm said: ‘This is not just the US involving itself in some global issue that mainly affects the Far East. It has implications for the United States itself. It is closer to the Cuban missile crisis than to some of the other problems we have had to deal with.’
In 1962 the world held its breath for 13 days after the Soviet Union installed nuclear warheads in Cuba – 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The former Scottish Secretary said this ‘threatened the US directly’. With North Korean missiles thought to be able to reach Hawaii, he added: ‘I think the Americans are deadly serious in seeing this as a strategic threat ultimately to themselves.’
At a security conference in London, Sir Malcolm warned there could be ‘all-out war’ should President Trump launch strikes – with the North Koreans feeling compelled to fight back.
His comments came as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said America was working on further sanctions to target the rogue regime should Pyongyang act in a way that merited a new response.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed to work together towards a ceasefire in Syria, with both saying the suffering ‘has gone too far’.
In their first phone conversation since President Trump incensed Russia by ordering last month’s missile strike on the Assad regime, the pair also discussed the situation in North Korea.
Following weeks of tension between Washington and Moscow, American officials described Tuesday night’s talks as constructive.