Kasich warns of ‘ bluster’ on NKorea
WASHINGTON — Ohio Gov. John Kasich denounced as “bluster and threats” suggestions that the United States use military force to eliminate the nuclearweapons and long-range missile programs being developed in North Korea.
Kasich said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that talk in Washington of attacking the Pyongyang regime is “getting carried away” and that the Trump administration should instead focus on tightening international sanctions to “squeeze” North Korea.
“In the beginning I think the president, by putting pressure on North Korea, was doing the right thing,” Kasich said. “But it’s getting carried away.
“And bluster and threats and throwing around the fact that we’re going to be engaged in some kind of a war that could involve nuclear weapons or result in the death of millions of people, I think is just not right,” Kasich said.
Kasich was referring to last week’s prediction by Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina that “there’s a 3-in-10 chance we use the military option” against North Korea.
In an interview with The Atlantic, Graham said that if North Korea tests one more nuclear device, the chance of an attack by the United States would increase to 70 percent. Graham said North Korea “comes up all the time” when he plays golf with President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think it’s correct foreign policy,” Kasich said. “The fact is the United States needs to be putting together a coalition, the same way we did with Iran, to put the kind of pressure on both the Chinese and the Koreans,” adding “regardless of what they say, we haven’t done it. You need to squeeze them.”
Crippled by international sanctions, Iran in 2015 agreed to curb its uraniumenrichment program and subject itself to international inspections. The deal was negotiated between Iran and a coalition of the United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany.
During an interview in 2015 with CNN’s State of the Union, Kasich criticized the Iranian accord, saying he had not met “many people here in the country who like this agreement. They think it endangers our allies and us.”
When “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd pointed out that Trump opposed the Iranian nuclear deal, Kasich acknowledged “maybe the deal was flawed. But it got (Iran) to the table because the pressure that was put on them economically was severe.”
Pyongyang, which is under United Nations sanctions because of its nuclearweapons program, this year tested a long-range missile that could reach the United States. But experts doubt North Korea has mastered the ability to attach a nuclear warhead to the missile.
On another topic, Kasich said that while he supports the Republican plan to overhaul the tax code and reduce taxes, he warned that the federal debt will continue to increase without restraining federal spending.
“This bill is not going to pay for itself; everybody knows that,” Kasich said. “As debt gets higher and higher and higher it slows the economy down.”