Johnson throws his weight behind Trump’s tough North Korea stance
Boris Johnson has backed Donald Trump’s approach to the North Korean crisis, but urged the US president to stick to the Iran nuclear deal.
The Foreign Secretary said Mr Trump had an “absolute duty” to prepare “any option” in response to Kim Jong-un’s regime.
But he said no-one wanted a military response to the crisis and suggested the Iran process represented the kind of “diplomatic imagination” that could provide a solution.
Comparing the situation to the Cold War, the Foreign Sec- retary said: “The public can be forgiven for genuinely starting to wonder whether the nuclear sword of Damocles is once again held over the head of a trembling human race.”
In a speech to the Chatham House foreign affairs thinktank, Mr Johnson said the Pyongyang regime’s nuclear ambitions would not make the country safer. “No-one wants any kind of military solution to the problem,” he said.
“But Kim and the world need to understand that when the 45th president of the United States contemplates a regime led by a man who not only threatens to reduce New York to ‘ashes’, but who stands on the verge of acquiring the power to make good on his threat, I am afraid that the US president – whoever he or she might be – will have an absolute duty to prepare any option to keep safe not only the American people, but all those who have sheltered under the American nuclear umbrella.”
Mr Johnson’s intervention comes amid concern at the inflammatory rhetoric being traded by Mr Trump and Mr Kim, whom the president describes as “Rocket Man”. It also comes after Mr Trump decertified the 2015 pact with Iran, complaining his predecessorbarackobamawastaken advantage of. Multi-award-winning equity release specialist Age Partnership can help homeowners decide if equity release is right for them, how much they can release and what impact it could have on the size of their estate including their entitlement to means-tested benefits now, or in the future. Any money released, plus accrued interest would be repaid upon death, or moving into long-term care. Equity Release may involve a home reversion plan or a lifetime mortgage which is secured against your property. To understand the features and risks, ask for your personalised illustration. They provide initial advice for free and without obligation. Only if you choose to proceed and your case completes would a typical fee of 2.2% of the amount released be payable. You only continue to own your own home with a lifetime mortgage.