KELLY SOUNDS N. KOREA ALARM

Says regime’s nukes need to be checked

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Americans should be “concerned” about North Korea’s evolving nuclear technology, suggesting at some point the rogue regime’s growing threat may become unmanageable.

“The American people should be concerned about a state that has developed a pretty good ICBM capability and is developing a pretty good nuclear re-entry vehicle,” Kelly said during a press briefing yesterday. “I would believe — I think I speak for the administration — that that state simply cannot have the ability to reach the homeland.”

Kelly’s comments came in the wake of a North Korea warning Wednesday that President Trump had “lit the wick of war” with his steadily escalating rhetoric.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has also threatened Guam directly, setting off unease and even nuclear disaster preparation plans.

“Right now, there’s great concern about a lot of Americans that live in Guam,” Kelly said. “Right now, we think the threat is manageable, but over time, if it grows beyond where it is today — well, let’s hope diplomacy works.”

Kelly denied an NBC News report that Trump had sought a ten-fold increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal over the summer.

“In spite of what someone reported the other day about the President,” Kelly said, “and I don’t think he’d mind my sharing this, what he said to me many, many times ... that wouldn’t it be great if we could get rid of them all, as opposed to we need 10 times more.”