President taunts Kim:
DONALD TRUMP has said his nuclear button is “bigger and more powerful” than that of Kim Jong-un, teasing the North Korean dictator on Twitter that his version actually works.
The US president’s dismissal of Kim’s New Year’s Day boast about his arsenal was delivered with typical swagger on social media and triggered a split reaction.
Supporters praised the “awesome” put-down as a show of strength against a US enemy, while critics questioned the president’s “fitness for office”.
In Britain, Theresa May dodged the chance to criticise the comment and instead stressed the need to stop North Korea’s “illegal” nuclear programme. Mr Trump tweeted: “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
It was the president’s fullest reaction to Kim’s Jan 1 speech in which he said the country already had nuclear weapons that could hit the US.
Kim, in an apparent two-track strategy, combined his hard line on the US with an offer of negotiations to South Korea, including about North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics. Experts said it appeared Kim was try- ing to drive a wedge between South Korea and the US, whose relations have been strained with Mr Trump.
Yesterday a hotline between North Korea and South Korea was reopened after lying dormant for almost two years. Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, was elected on a platform of opening talks with North Korea last year in an attempt to convince them to stop their nuclear programme.
However, Mr Trump’s administration has refused to start talks until Mr Kim abandons his nuclear ambitions and is said to fear his latest comments are a stalling tactic as he builds more weapons. The president’s mockery of Kim split opinion in the US. Michael Flynn Jr, the son of Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, tweeted:
“this is just awesome.”
But Norman Eisen, former US ambassador to the Czech Republic, told CNN: “That tweet caused me to question his stability and his fitness for office. He’s making the situation worse.”
Mrs May, when asked whether she was “concerned about this rhetoric”, responded: “We’ve consistently said that the programme that North Korea has in relation to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles is reckless.
“This is illegal and we are working with the international community, including with the United States, to bring as much political and economic pressure to bear on North Korea to see them change course.”