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No North Korea missile will be capable of reaching US, says Trump

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again on Monday evening to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.
This picture released by North Korean news agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 1, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering the new year message in Pyongyang. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STRINGER / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT

This picture released by North Korean news agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 1, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering the new year message in Pyongyang. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STRINGER / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again on Monday evening to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.

His comments come a day after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, appeared to try to put pressure on Trump by announcing his country is in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US,” Trump tweeted. “It won’t happen!”

Although Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear state, Trump has not previously clearly stated his policy on the isolated Stalinist state.

The Republican billionaire has already upended precedent by routinely taking to Twitter since his election last month to lambast critics and issue statements — sometimes about the most serious national security issues — sending analysts scrambling to divine what they may mean for US policy once he takes office on January 20.

He launched a solo bid to restart the Cold War arms race last month, tweeting that the United States must “greatly strengthen and expand” its nuclear capabilities.

He has also angered China by tweeting accusations of military expansionism and currency manipulation.

But he will need Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest ally, to deal with North Korea’s mounting confrontation.

However, he appeared to complicate that prospect with his latest criticism on Monday evening following his vow about North Korea.

“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea,” he tweeted. “Nice!”

In a 30-minute televised New Year’s speech on Sunday, Kim said Pyongyang had “soared as a nuclear power,” adding that it is now a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.”

Although he did not make a specific reference to the incoming Trump administration, he called on Washington to make a “resolute decision to withdraw its anachronistic hostile North Korea policy.”

Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realizing its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.

However, North Korea carried out two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches last year in pursuit of its oft-stated goal — developing a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.

Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain who defected to the South in August, has said Kim was planning a “prime time” nuclear weapons push in 2017 to take advantage of leadership transitions in Washington and Seoul.

5 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    The US is now paying the price of electing an ignorant person as her President for the 1st time in several years.With due respect, the President elect, Mr. Donald Trump, If you knew the meaning of “nuclear missile” or a missile with nuclear armed war heads, you probably will be sober and show more tact and matured diplomacy on the matter.The end product of promoting arms race will spell doom for US economy. It means an elected President who has not taken over power is finding it difficult to identify his countries priorities. Majority of American voters who casted the overwhelming popular votes for Mrs. Hillary Clinton knew that Donald Trump does not understand and was unable to define US national priorities at that point in time. Trump being an opposition Presidential candidate was expected to show a better understanding of US developmental priorities, rejuvenation of decaying infrastructure internally, declining global trading competitiveness, tackling natural disasters, declining productivity due to widespread drug abuse, rising budget deficit due to unnecessary military expeditions in the middle East (up till today, the US and her allies are yet to find the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq years after the elimination of Saddam Hussein), declining economic prosperity etc What you get in a nuclear war is MAD- Mutual Assured Destruction. Why are you so happy to destroy this planet created by God, Mr. Trump?

  • Author’s gravatar

    Finally, someone will put this fat pig and China where they belong.