U.S. President Donald Trump says that perhaps his “fire and fury” warning to North Korea “wasn’t tough enough,” so he issued a new warning over the North’s development of nuclear weapons on Wednesday.
Trump says North Korea “better get their act together or they are going to be in trouble like few nations have ever been in trouble.”
The president was addressing reporters during his vacation at his New Jersey golf club before a security briefing with top advisers.
It’s the latest warning since he said earlier this week that North Korea faces “retaliation with fire and fury unlike any the world has seen before.”
North Korea has said it may attack Guam with “enveloping fire” in retaliation.
Trump told reporters today that North Korea has been “getting away with a tragedy that can’t be allowed.” Still, he declined to say whether the U.S. was considering a pre-emptive military strike, saying his administration never discusses such deliberations publicly.
Trump’s comments were his first since North Korea reacted to his “fire and fury” threat by announcing a detailed plan to launch a salvo of ballistic missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to U.S. bombers. Trump said it was time that somebody stood up to the pariah nation.
With Vice-President Mike Pence at his side, Trump said the U.S. “of course” would always consider negotiations with North Korea, but added that negotiations with the North have failed for the last 25 years. He accused his four predecessors of failing to effectively address the North Korea problem.
Alluding to the threats against Guam, Trump said if North Korea took any steps towards an attack, it would have reason to be “very nervous.”
“Things will happen to them like they never thought possible, OK?” Trump said. Of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said: “He’s been pushing the world around for a long time.”
He also said that he expects China “will do a lot more” on North Korea but linked future trade policy on China to what Beijing does on North Korea.
