Trump threatens North Korea with ‘fire and fury’ in nuclear row
● US warning after claims of Kim missiles breakthrough
Donald Trump has said North Korea “had best not make any more threats to the United States” or “they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen”.
The warning came as a Japanese defence paper and a US media report said North Korea may have produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles.
The Washington Post story, citing unnamed US intelligence officials, said the confidential analysis was completed last month by the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
Separately, Japan’s defence ministry assessed in a report that it is possible that North Korea has developed nuclear warheads. Washington’s alarm over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s pursuit of a nuclear capability has intensified in the past month after the North conducted two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Mr Trump issued the warning last night during a briefing on opioid addiction at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey
At the weekend, the UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea over its latest test of a ballistic missile that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon. Despite the rapid tempo of these tests, uncertainty has lingered over the isolated nation’s ability to couple such a missile with a nuclear device.
If North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, it will have passed a key threshold in becoming a fully-fledged nuclear power.
Japan’s defence ministry concluded in an annual white paper released yesterday that “it is possible that North Korea has achieved the miniaturisation of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warpresident heads.” Japan, a key US ally, is also a potential target of North Korean aggression.
Officials at the defence agency would not comment on the report. The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence could not be reached for comment.
For Mr Kim, nuclear weapons are fundamental to the survival of his authoritarian regime, even if they deepen diplomatic isolation and bring even more extreme poverty for his long-suffering people.
The North has learned through decades of US efforts at isolation how to circumvent commercial and financial restrictions, and reluctant powers like China and Russia have often proven halfhearted partners when it comes to policing their ally.
Speaking in the Philippines after meeting Asian foreign ministers, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday there is “no daylight” in the view among Washington and its partners that North Korea must move toward abandoning its nuclear weap- ons. But he was quick to stress the importance of everyone enforcing the new, tougher sanctions. “We will be monitoring that carefully,” he said.
The UN penalties aim to cut off roughly $1 billion of North Korea’s estimated $3bn in annual exports, by banning countries from importing its coal, iron, lead and seafood products and stopping them from letting in more North Korean labourers, who help Mr Kim’s government by sending cash home.
Mr Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, called it “the single largest economic sanctions package ever levelled against” North Korea.
Even if the sanctions hurt North Korea’s economy and weaken its government, questions remain over whether to use military force if the North continues to issue nuclear threats.
Much rests on the willingness of China, the North’s traditionally ally and main trading partner. Beijing remains cautious of triggering a North Korean collapse, fearful of causing chaos along its border or advancing any conflict.