President Trump threatens North Korea with 'fire and fury like the world has never seen'
President Trump threatens North Korea with 'fire and fury like the world has never seen'
President Trump starkly warned North Korea to stop making nuclear threats Tuesday in the kind of bellicose rhetoric usually associated with the rulers in Pyongyang, twice declaring, “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
The president’s dramatic threat of annihilation raised fresh fears of a confrontation with North Korea, which successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month for the first time, and which has vowed to defend itself with nuclear weapons if necessary.
Trump’s startling comments followed a new U.S. intelligence assessment indicating that North Korea has developed a warhead design that could fit atop an ICBM. The report hardens previous classified assessments that date back to 2013, and reflects growing U.S. confidence that Pyongyang had achieved this milestone after years of uncertainty.
U.S. officials caution that North Korea still has not developed a nuclear warhead capable of surviving the intense heat, vibration and pressure of an ICBM’s fiery reentry into the atmosphere, but that step appears increasingly likely.
Trump spoke from the clubhouse of his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., where he is on what the White House calls a 17-day working vacation. His comments came a day after North Korean state media issued a typical anti-U.S. broadside, saying Pyongyang “will make the U.S. pay dearly for [its] heinous crimes.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week offered to resume negotiations with the isolated government in Pyongyang if it would stop ballistic missile tests as a show of good faith.
But Trump went much further, adopting the inflammatory language North Korean leaders have used for years to threaten the United States.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump told reporters, his arms folded across his chest, immediately overshadowing a meeting he had called to discuss America’s opioid epidemic. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
He added that North Korean leader Kim Jung Un “has been very threatening beyond a normal state. And as I have said, they will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
For years, Pyongyang’s official news service has been spewing out hyperbolic threats of turning Seoul into a “sea of fire” or engulfing the United States in “thermonuclear war.’’ Those threats are often received with shrugs, occasionally even smirks because for years they have been treated as the stuff of parody.
But with Trump responding to North Korean bombast with his own threat, experts fear he raises the risk of a miscalculation. By essentially playing a game of dare, he could tempt North Korea to try to up the ante.
“To start throwing out this hyperbole about death and destruction, I don’t know how that’s helpful,’’ said Carl Baker, a retired Air Force officer who was stationed in South Korea, now with the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration used traditional diplomatic channels, winning a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote to impose tough sanctions on North Korea in response to its latest ballistic missile tests.
But some experts said Trump’s threats could undermine that support. Some North Korean analysts fear that the brinksmanship will elicit an overreaction from Kim, who is still in his early 30s.
“My concern with Kim Jong Un is that he sees the nuclear instrument as the course of his domestic legitimacy. Ultimately that could lead to miscalculation or an accident,’’ said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“It will be interesting to see whether the Trump comments give North Korea pause or whether they proceed with additional nuclear and missile tests to keep up their perfect record of defiance,” he added.
“The temperature is getting hot enough that both sides are going to potentially search for an exit ramp. But we don’t know if Kim Jong Un sees negotiations as a possible exit strategy.’’
The latest crisis began when North Korea tested its first two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month, with the second judged powerful enough to conceivably reach California and beyond. It crashed into the Sea of Japan, apparently on target.
A Defense Intelligence Agency report dated that same day, July 28, also rang alarms.
It assessed that Pyongyang is now capable of producing so-called miniaturized nuclear warheads — about the size of an outdoor garbage can — to fit atop an ICBM, a critical step in the nation’s decade long march to develop a nuclear strike force, U.S. officials said.
The report, which was first disclosed by the Washington Post, also assessed that North Korea has stockpiled as many as 60 nuclear weapons, although outside analysis says the arsenal is much smaller, probably fewer than 20.
David Albright, a former United Nations nuclear inspector, said Pyongyang may have succeeded in building a warhead small enough to fit atop a missile, but he doubts it has mastered the technical challenges of launching it on an ICBM to carry out an attack.
North Korea is not known to have developed a reentry vehicle, which carries the warhead atop the ICBM, that can survive the intense heat, pressure and vibration as it reenters the atmosphere from space, he said.
Nor have North Korean tests demonstrated the ability to hit a target like a city with precision, he said.
“I’m skeptical they’re there,” Albright said. “They could put a warhead on it, but it’s very likely it would not survive reentry or hit its target.”
In North Korea’s tests of intermediate range missiles, the reentry vehicles do not appear to have survived, said Albright, who heads a Washington proliferation research organization called the Institute for Science and International Security.
Albright also has said he is doubtful that North Korea had produced 60 nuclear warheads.
“I believe that North Korea has had a design for a miniaturized nuclear warhead that would fit on a ICBM class missile for some time now,” said Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a former U.S. government expert on North Korea who now works for 38 North, a private group that focuses on the country. “We just don’t know how reliable it is.”
He added, “All they have demonstrated is the ability to launch a missile and have it come down with a reasonable degree of accuracy” in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed concern about what she called Trump’s “bombastic comments.” She called on the administration to engage Pyongyang in high-level dialogue without preconditions.
“In my view, diplomacy is the only sound path forward,” she said in a statement.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC that "I take exception to the President's comments because you've gotta be sure you can do what you say you can do …. That kind of rhetoric, I'm not sure how it helps.”
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apocalypse now, anyone
"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States," the president warned, responding to a reporter's question during at his Bedminster Golf Club, where Trump has spent the last several days. "They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before."
On one side we are faced with a raving, out of control, lunatic who may kill 1,000,000 in a terrible war and on the other side is Kim Jung Un.
The problem is that he said he'd attack if NK even threatens the U.S., not if they take any action. And you know Kim Jung Un will issue threats.
IMO Trump is playing into Jong Un hands with his bellicose statements. Now NK will say that they are being threatened by the US.
Russia and China just signed on to more sanctions against NK...Let's see how that works before threating NK...
I agree. Let's give the sanctions a try. NK still doesn't know how to harden their warheads to prevent them from burning up re-entering the atmosphere and that's not easy, though Pakistan has been helping them all along, so they may sell him that kind of technology.
Trump threatens North Korea with Nuclear War. Damn stupid thing to do.
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
This is about all that's left then
I think it's clearly a threat of a nuclear attack.
The world has seen nuclear bombs go off. He must have a death star in his back pocket.
He may think he does.
One does wonder if he orders a nuclear strike if the order will be obeyed. Normally we have a civilian in charge of the Generals, but instead I am hoping the Generals stop him if he goes too far.
Maybe he's got sharks with frickin lasers in mind.
The world has seen nuclear bombs go off.
Not nearly as powerful as the ones we have now. And we have many more. Trump has no idea of what he is playing with. He is a child, threatening with "toys" that he doesn't understand.
Not Apocalypse now. More like 25th Amendment now.
What's the best way to draw attention away from the multiple investigations than are threatening to take Trump down? Provoke NK into a war.
Absolutely and Trump is just enough of an un-feeling bastard to do it.
I have a feeling a lot of people are googling "U.S. missile defense system" tonight
I like to watch BBC World News to get some prospective and a commentator on it suggested the same thing. That Trump might decide to improve his poll numbers by launching a war.
I would almost rather him tweet us into WWIII, as opposed to nanner-nanner-boo-booing us into WWIII.
Speak softly, but carry a big stick President Trump.
Hopefully you got half of it right.
Good advice but it comes too late.
I think it's too late also. Trump backed himself into a corner by saying we would respond with with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”, if NK even threatens the U.S. If they do (and Kim Jung Un certainly will) then Trump must go to war with NK or Un will never believe him on anything. It seems that a war is inevitable.
And here is the response from NK. Will Trump order a nuclear attack on NK as he has bluffed now that NK has called him on it?
North Korea Mulling Plan to Strike Guam, State Media Announces
North Korea says it is "seriously reviewing" a plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam with missiles — just hours after President Donald Trump told the regime that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury."
Trump knows Guam. I think Miss Guam won Miss Universe one time.
I wonder if he knows it's American territory?
Every time Trump talks, his lips look like he's saying 'Guam'.
Every time Trump moves his lips it's fairly certain that he is telling a lie.
Here is a link with a lot of information on Guam...A major U.S. military base (naval/air force)
The company that I worked for before I retired we had a large shipping operation on Guam. I spent a lot of time there. The scuba diving is great.