Fiery words sought a single target
Trump ‘fire and fury’ aimed to send N. Korea leader message
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s chilling threat to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” against North Korea sent shock waves across the Pacific — as did Pyongyang’s threat against Guam that it repeated in more detail Wednesday.
But the administration argued Wednesday that Trump’s comments were carefully crafted for a special audience of one: Kim Jong Un.
By reminding North Korea’s young ruler in stark terms of America’s vastly larger nuclear arsenal, Trump appeared to be playing a diplomatic goodcop, bad-cop routine with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has repeatedly called for finding a way to resume negotiations with Pyongyang.
“What the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un would understand because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language,” Tillerson said en route to Guam after a diplomatic swing through Southeast Asia. “I think it was important that he deliver that message to avoid any miscalculation on their part.”
Less clear is whether it was an intentional strategy or an improvised gambit by an administration struggling to find its footing in a nuclear standoff. The White House confirmed that Trump had ad-libbed his grim warning Tuesday but insisted he did so only after consulting with his national security advisers.
“The words were his own,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters near the president’s golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., where he is on what the White House calls a working vacation. “The tone and strength of the message were discussed beforehand.”
“We are all on the same page,” agreed Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman. “We are speaking with one voice. And the world is speaking with one voice.”
While it was easier to hear a cacophony of voices Wednesday from the Trump team and from around the world, a jarring mix of messages did little to ease tensions.
Speaking to reporters, Tillerson called for calm, saying the U.S. does not face “any imminent threat, in my own view” and that “Americans should sleep well at night.”
Hours later, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke of the U.S. military might and warned Pyongyang to “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”
Pyongyang initially responded by saying it was considering a missile strike against U.S. military bases on the Pacific island of Guam. On Wednesday the Korean People’s Army broadened its aim, threatening to “turn the U.S. mainland into the theater of a nuclear war.”
Later, the isolated regime pivoted again toward the U.S. Pacific territory, saying a plan to attack waters near Guam would be completed by mid-August and presented to the commander in chief of the nation’s nuclear forces to await his order, according to a statement from its military carried by state-run news agency KCNA.
General Kim Rak Gyom said North Korea would fire four mid-range missiles hitting waters about 20 to 25 miles from the island.
In the statement, Gen. Kim dismissed Trump’s threats, declaring the American leader “bereft of reason” and warning ominously, “Only absolute force can work on him.”
Pyongyang also organized a giant rally to showcase the country’s military fervor. Tens of thousands of people packed Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang to protest the latest round of United Nations sanctions.
The reaction in northeast Asia to the escalating war of words ranged from expressions of alarm by U.S. allies to calls for restraint from China, which has been Pyongyang’s closest political and economic ally since the Korean War in the 1950s.
A commentary on China’s state-run Xinhua news wire Wednesday warned all sides “not to play with fire.”
It called for “making responsible choices to ensure peace, particularly at a moment approaching crisis,” saying it’s not too late to return to the negotiating table. “Pyongyang should suspend its ballistic missile and nuclear programs while Washington and Seoul suspend their joint military drills,” the commentary said.
South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, called for a “re-birth” of its military to build up the nation’s defenses. Japan, which also is in range of North Korean missiles, also is considering a sharp military expansion.
Six-party multilateral talks with North Korea to curtail its nuclear program broke off nine years ago. Since then, North Korea has conducted five underground nuclear tests, including two last year, and built an arsenal of at least 20 nuclear arms.
Pyongyang also successfully tested a long-range missile last month deemed capable of reaching California and beyond. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Pyongyang can build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit atop its missiles, but can not yet build one robust enough to survive the missile’s reentry into the atmosphere.
Speaking to reporters on the flight to Guam, Tillerson also said he was confident he was able to galvanize support against North Korea during his just-concluded visit to Southeast Asia.
“I think, in fact, the pressure is starting to show,” Tillerson said. “I think that’s why the rhetoric coming out of Pyongyang has gotten louder and more threatening. Whether we’ve got them backed into a corner or not is difficult to say, but diplomatically, you never like to have someone in a corner without a way for them to get out.”