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North Korea: Trump says he is prepared to take 'devastating' military action to end tensions North Korea: Trump says he is prepared to take 'devastating' military action to end tensions
(35 minutes later)
Donald Trump says that the US is ready with a "military option" to end the escalating crisis with North Korea that would be devastating for Pyongyang.Donald Trump says that the US is ready with a "military option" to end the escalating crisis with North Korea that would be devastating for Pyongyang.
"We are totally prepared for the second option, not a preferred option," Mr Trump said at a White House news conference alongside Spain's prime minister. "But if we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That's called the military option. If we have to take it, we will.""We are totally prepared for the second option, not a preferred option," Mr Trump said at a White House news conference alongside Spain's prime minister. "But if we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That's called the military option. If we have to take it, we will."
The President proceeded to say that North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho - who said over the week end that it was "inevitable" that North Korean rockets would hit the US mainland - was acting "very badly, saying things that should never be said." In addition to musing on the likelihood of a North Korean missile strike on US soil, Mr Ri also claimed recently that Mr Trump had issued a declaration of war in tweeting that North Korean leaders "won't be around much longer" if they keep on threatening the US. The President proceeded to say that North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho - who said over the week end that it was "inevitable" that North Korean rockets would hit the US mainland - was acting "very badly, saying things that should never be said." In addition to musing on the likelihood of a North Korean missile strike on US soil, Mr Ri also claimed recently that Mr Trump had issued a declaration of war in tweeting that North Korean leaders "won't be around much longer" if they keep on threatening the US.
"The whole word should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country," Mr Ri told reporters in New York, responding to the tweet."The whole word should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country," Mr Ri told reporters in New York, responding to the tweet.
Mr Trump's threats Tuesday are just the latest in a series of insults hurled between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. After a particularly feisty speech during the Presidents first address to the United Nations General Assembly last week in which he called Mr Kim "Rocket Man", and said that he was on a "suicide mission". Mr Kim followed up by calling Mr Trump a "dotard" - a phrase used to describe an elderly, senile person - and a "frightened dog". Mr Trump's threats Tuesday are just the latest in a series of insults hurled between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The President gave a particularly feisty speech during his first address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, calling Mr Kim "Rocket Man", and saying he was on a "suicide mission". Mr Kim followed up by calling Mr Trump a "dotard" - a phrase used to describe an elderly, senile person - and a "frightened dog".
"I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire," Mr Kim said in an unprecedented statement addressing a foreign leader."I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire," Mr Kim said in an unprecedented statement addressing a foreign leader.
  Those statements provoked a rebuke from Mr Trump, who charged via Twitter that Mr Kim doesn't care about "starving or killing his people" and said that the North Korean leader would "be tested like never before!"
More follows… North Korea, which conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear weapon test earlier this month, has threatened to conduct yet another nuclear test - and has said that they've considered doing so in the Pacific Ocean. Doing so would likely require North Korea to shoot a missile over Japan, leading to a potential catastrophe there if there was a malfunction in the missile.
  "It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," Mr Ri said last week of his country's potential response to Mr Trump. "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un."
The escalation in rhetorical warfarehas some experts concerned that, in addition to raising the bar of insults, the two leaders may raise expectations that they actually put their money where their mouth is after puffing their chests.
"I think this will lead to something in the coming days," Gi-wook Shin, the director of the Walter H Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Centre at Stanford University, told The Independent last week. "That's why I'm concerned, that it might be more than an escalation of rhetoric. There may be escalation of expectations."
Tensions between Mr Trump and Mr Kim have become increasingly worrisome over the past several months, as North Korea has tested its nuclear weapons and its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems.
In response to those tests - which has included an ICMB that experts suggest has the capability to make it to the US homeland - the US and the United Nations have imposed strict sanctions on North Korea, further isolating the country from the financial world. Although China is a major trading partner for North Korea, the national bank there has instructed its banks to honour those sanctions, and has threatened retaliation if financial institutions continue business as usual with North Korea individuals and companies.