U.S. says it’s not pushing for regime change in North Korea
WASHINGTON » The Trump administration said Monday it’s not seeking to overthrow North Korea’s government after the president tweeted that Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer” and called Pyongyang’s assertion absurd that Donald Trump’s comment amounted to a declaration of war.
Still, the fiery rhetoric carrying over from a week of threatening exchanges at the U.N. General Assembly only further fueled fears the adversaries might stumble back into open military conflict. The Korean War ended seven decades ago without a formal peace treaty and tensions related to the North’s nuclear advances have escalated for months.
At the U.N. on Monday, the North’s top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho, argued that Trump’s Twitter blast gives it the right to shoot down U.S. warplanes, like the strategic bombers Washington flew close to the border between the two Koreas over the weekend.
Trump’s Saturday tweet said: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Trump also used “rocket man” for Kim in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week.
While the comments may be read as an implicit threat to eliminate Kim, administration officials said Washington hadn’t changed its policy and the U.S. isn’t seeking regime change in Pyongyang.
“We have not declared war on North Korea. Frankly the suggestion of that is absurd,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. “It’s never appropriate for a country to shoot down another country’s aircraft when it’s over international waters.”
“Our goal is still the same. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” she said.
Cabinet officials, particu-