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Trump rattles saber at North Korea: `One thing will work'
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US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd Annual UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 19, 2017.
(Agence France -Presse/Timothy A. Clary)
P
resident Donald Trump returned to saber-rattling against North Korea, saying that “only one thing will work!” after years of diplomacy have failed, even as his counterpart in Pyongyang termed nuclear weapons a powerful deterrent.
“Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of US negotiators,” Trump said in a pair of tweets.
“Sorry, but only one thing will work!” the president concluded to his 40 million Twitter followers in a message that at least implied he may have settled on a military option against North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un.
...hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017
On Saturday, leaving the White House to travel to North Carolina for a fundraiser, Trump was asked by reporters to clarify his comment. “Well, you’ll figure that out pretty soon,” he said.
The remarks came two days after Trump cryptically said during a dinner with American military leaders that observers were witnessing “the calm before the storm.” He refused to clarify the comment, adding only that “you’ll find out.” On Saturday, Trump said there was “nothing to clarify.”
North Korea’s Kim has heightened global tensions this year with a series of increasingly provocative missile launches and an underground nuclear test. The country’s foreign minister even floated the idea of exploding a warhead over the Pacific Ocean.
Two Russian lawmakers said this week that Kim is now planning to test an missile capable of reaching the US west coast, a range of approximately 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers).
Kim and Trump have traded public barbs, leading the North Korean to contend that the US has declared war on his nation. While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has sought a diplomatic solution, Trump said in a tweet on Oct. 1 that the top US diplomat was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate.
