If there were no nuclear weapons involved and no threat of mass casualties, the latest ranting from Kim Jung Un would be funny. The North Korean leader is clearly demented. He spends months insulting the USA and President Trump in statement after statement, and when Trump calls him "Rocket Man" and warns him of the consequences of his actions, Kim has his foreign minister state that Trump "declared war" on North Korea. It's a classic move by a bully; he's upping the ante in an effort to get Trump and the USA to back down. It's also a strange move because there's no way that the NK's can really threaten the existence of the USA, but the opposite is not true. During the Obama era, threats like Kim's latest would be met with an apology from Washington. Maybe we would have even sent aid to the North Koreans. It must be hard for the North Korean leader to realize that we now have a president who will not back down in the face of threats.
The terrifying thing is that we have to hope that Kim behaves in a rational manner. He ought to realize that if he move forward towards a military confrontation with the USA, he and his regime (and perhaps his country) will cease to exist. If Kim doesn't understand this basic truth, we could see an enormous calamity in Korea with massive death and destruction. Still, President Trump is right to bring matters to a head now. In two or three years from now, the cost could be much, much higher.
The terrifying thing is that we have to hope that Kim behaves in a rational manner. He ought to realize that if he move forward towards a military confrontation with the USA, he and his regime (and perhaps his country) will cease to exist. If Kim doesn't understand this basic truth, we could see an enormous calamity in Korea with massive death and destruction. Still, President Trump is right to bring matters to a head now. In two or three years from now, the cost could be much, much higher.
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