The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TRUMP: MILITARY LOCKED, LOADED
President ‘prefers diplomatic solution,’ says Tillerson.
President Donald Trump issued yet more provocative warnings of military action against North Korea on Friday as he continued to suggest that he was readyto strike the small, isolated Asian country that has been developing nuclearweapons capable of reaching the United States.
Even as he kept up the drum beat against Pyongyang, Trump suggested that he was also contemplating the use of armed force closer to home, in Venezuela, where the government has moved to close down the opposition parliament after a fraud-plagued referendum while the country spirals deeper into poverty and dysfunction.
Asked about the crisis there, Trump volunteered the possibility of military force even though there has been no tangible threat to the United States.
“Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering and they’re dying,” Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., after meeting with members ofhis national security team. “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary.”
After twice earlier in the day escalating his rhetoric against North Korea, Trump emerged fromthe late afternoon session with a somewhat more restrained message, vowing to give diplomacy a chance. He said he would be calling President Xi Jinping of China later Friday evening to coordinate strategy.
“Hopefully it’ll all work out,” he said. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution better than President Trump, that I cantell you. Hopefully it’ll all work out, but this has been going on for many years.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who flflew to the golf club to brief Trump after returning from Asia, said
the president’s tough language was part of an overall strategy designed to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.
“I think the president’s made it clear he prefers a
diplomatic solution,” Tillerson said, standing next to Trump. “What the president’s doing is to support our efforts by making sure North Korea understands the stakes.”
Trump started the morning with a Twitter message saying the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” for conflict, and then followed up in the afternoon by telling reporters that he hoped the North Koreans “fully understand the gravity of what I said.” He singled out Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, saying Kim had been allowed to destabilize the region for too long.
“This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” the president told reporters before the afternoon meeting with Tillerson, Nikki Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser. “If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat” or takes action against the U.S. territory of Guam or against the United States’ allies, “he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast,” Trump said.
He dismissed foreign leaders, lawmakers and national security experts who have called his threats rash and even reckless.
“My critics are only saying that because it’s me,” Trump said. “If somebody uttered the exact same words that I uttered, they’d say, ‘What a great statement, what a wonderful statement.’” Trump’s morning tweet
said “military solutions” were ready “should North Korea act unwisely.” To reinforce the point, the president later shared a post from the U.S. Pacific Command stating that it was standing by for orders should the need arise.
“# USAF B- 1B Lancer #bombers on Guam stand ready to fulfill USFK’s #FightTonight mission if called upon to do so,” the tweet said.
Trump’s comments do not necessarily indicate a specific change in military readiness or any imminent action. The motto of U.S. forces based alongside allied troops in South Korea has long been “Ready to Fight Tonight,” mainly a slogan emphasizing preparedness rather than a statement of hostility. There has been little if any sign of mobilization that might suggest preparations for a strike.
Even without nuclear weapons, North Korea has an array of conventional artillery that analysts said could lay waste to Seoul and other parts of South Korea if war were to start, yet no move has been made to begin evacuating the many thousands of American civilians living there.
Trump has spent at least part of his week playing golf and held a meeting Friday on workforce development. Tillerson spent Wednesday in Honolulu, where he brought along his clubs, as well. Vice President Mike Pence was in Indianapolis talking about anti-crime efforts.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said its diplomatic initiative to pressure
North Korea into abandoning its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program is still in its early phases, with much work remaining.