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Trump vows to 'totally destroy North Korea' if it threatens US Trump vows to 'totally destroy North Korea' if it threatens US
(about 1 hour later)
 
Donald Trump has said the US may have no choice but to “totally destroy” North Korea.Donald Trump has said the US may have no choice but to “totally destroy” North Korea.
In his first address to the UN General Assembly - and with North Korean diplomats sitting just yards from him - Mr Trump said he will have no option to resort to such actions if Pyongyang does not halt the development of its nuclear weapons programme.In his first address to the UN General Assembly - and with North Korean diplomats sitting just yards from him - Mr Trump said he will have no option to resort to such actions if Pyongyang does not halt the development of its nuclear weapons programme.
In perhaps the most striking piece of sabre-rattling yet, Mr Trump said that unless North Korea backed down, “we will have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea”.In perhaps the most striking piece of sabre-rattling yet, Mr Trump said that unless North Korea backed down, “we will have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea”.
In a reference to Kim Jong-un, he claimed the North Korean leader appeared to determined to choose a path of self-destruction. “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said. According to a seating chart of the General Assembly Hall of the New York Headquarters, North Korea was seated in plain view of Mr trump, in the front row.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump frequently denounced the UN, saying that it was bad for democracy and wasted public money. On Tuesday, he did indeed urge the members to meet their financial obligatations. However, the senior diplomat for the isolated nation with a mercurial Kim Jong-un as leader, left the room just ahead of Mr Trump’s speech.
But in a speech that appeared to be aimed as much at middle America as at the world leaders listening to him, Mr Trump spent much of his focus on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme - something his predecessor, Barack Obama, warned would be likely to be his toughest foreign policy challenge. In a reference to Mr Kim, the US President claimed the North Korean leader appeared to determined to choose a path of self-destruction.
“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said.
Chatter briefly filled the hall as diplomats weighed in on a world leader referring to another by a nickname, on the record of the world body.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump frequently denounced the UN, saying that it was bad for democracy and wasted public money.
He said it was “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time” in a December 2016 tweet.
On Tuesday, he did indeed urge the members to meet their financial obligations as he reiterated his commitment to reform the organisation.
In his first UN meeting, Mr Trump had said that “in recent years the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement.”
But in a speech that appeared to be aimed as much at middle America as at the world leaders listening to him, Mr Trump spent much of his focus on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme - something his predecessor, Barack Obama, warned would be likely to be his toughest foreign policy challenge.
He said Pyongyang’s increased testing of intercontinental missiles and nuclear payloads, “threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of life”.He said Pyongyang’s increased testing of intercontinental missiles and nuclear payloads, “threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of life”.
“If the righteous many don’t confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” he said. “If the righteous many don’t confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” he said as he called the Kim regime “depraved” and detailed several egregious human rights violations including the death of 22-year-old American college student Otto Warmbier.
Most experts believe that any US preemptive strike against North Korea would result in many millions of deaths, not just in North Korea but in South Korea, which is threatened by thousands of conventional weapons.  Most experts believe that any US pre-emptive strike against North Korea would result in many millions of deaths, not just in North Korea but in South Korea, which is threatened by thousands of conventional weapons.
Last month, Mr Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon told a journalist from Prospect magazine that there was no viable military option for dealing with North Korea.  Japan has also already seen to North Korean missiles fly by its Hokkaido island in as many months as Pyongyang continued its weapons testing.
Last month, Mr Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon told a journalist from Prospect magazine that there was no viable military option for dealing with North Korea.
“Forget it,” he said. “Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”“Forget it,” he said. “Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”
Mr Trump said it was in the interest of the entire world to confront the challenge of North Korea - which he called a “band of criminals”.Mr Trump said it was in the interest of the entire world to confront the challenge of North Korea - which he called a “band of criminals”.
Yet he also said America needed, emphasising  his “America first” agenda, and said that while the United States would “forever be a great friend to the world and especially to its allies,” his primary responsibility was to Americans. Yet he also said America needed to take care of its own citizens: I will always put America first, just like you as the leaders of your countries will always - and should always - put your countries first.”
“All responsible leaders have an obligation to serve their own citizens. Our government’s first duty is to its people,” he said. At the same time he emphasised that the US would “forever be a great friend to the world and especially to its allies,” as an apparent reassurance to South Korea and Japan.
“In foreign affairs we are renewing this founding principle of sovereignty. As president, I will always put America first, just like you as the leaders of your countries will always - and should always - put your countries first.” “All responsible leaders have an obligation to serve their own citizens. Our government’s first duty is to its people….In foreign affairs we are renewing this founding principle of sovereignty,” the President claimed, harkening back several times to former President Woodrow Wilson and the Marshall Plan, which aided the rebuilding of Western Europe in the wake of World War II.
Experts have weighed in on Mr Trump’s bold rhetoric against North Korea as “embarrassing,” according to Dr Stephen Saideman, an expert and professor at Canada’s Carleton University.
Mr Saideman told The Independent that despite the President’s previous threats of “fire and fury” and appearing to have a fatalistic attitude toward using military options, nothing has really changed.
Mr Trump said he would have no choice to “destroy” North Korea in the context of defending allies and “if war starts, it will be awful for North Korea and they already know that,” said Mr Saideman.
For its part, the UN Security Council with the help of US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, secured a unanimous vote for the strictest-ever sanctions against North Korea a few weeks ago.
The latest UN sanctions impose caps on North Korea’s oil exports, bans all textile exports, and no country is allowed to issue work permits to those holding North Korean passports. Countries will also be allowed to freeze assets of cargo ships if they refuse to undergo inspections. Originally – before negotiations with China and Russia – the US had wanted to freeze all of Mr Kim’s assets, impose a travel ban on him, and have a total ban on oil imports.
Mr Trump seemed to dismiss the landmark deal, saying it was “not a big deal” and that the economic damage from the sanctions was “nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen”.
The vote came just after Ms Haley claimed that Pyongyang and its mercurial leader Kim Jong-un were “begging for war“. She noted that though the US did not want to use its military, but its patience is running thin.