Washington, August 12 (PTI): US President Donald Trump has again issued a stern warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong- Un, saying he will “truly regret” any hostile acts against any American territory or ally.
He warned that the US will take action against Kim’s regime “if he utters one threat, in the form of an overt threat which, by the way, he has been uttering for years, and his family has been uttering for years”.
The warning comes after Kim threatened the US this week to fire missiles at Guam after the US sponsored a resolution imposing new economic sanctions on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
Trump also said that if Kim does anything with respect to Guam, or any place else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will “truly regret it and he will regret it fast”.
Earlier in the day, the US President said military solutions against the nuclear-armed North Korean regime were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang acted “unwisely”.
“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un will find another path!” he tweeted.
Pentagon officials were quoted by Fox News as saying that the US military stands ready to “fight tonight” on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump also met with his national security team and told reporters he’s still hoping for a “peaceful solution”.
“Hopefully it will all work out,” he said. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution better than President Trump, that I can tell you”.
The president made the comments after meeting with UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H R McMaster.
Trump defended his stand against North Korea and claimed that Americans are happy with his remarks.
“Hopefully they (North Korea) will understand exactly what I said and the meaning of those words. Those words are very, very easy to understand,” the president said.
He said he does not want to talk about back channel talks with North Koreans as being reported by some media outlets.
“We don’t want to talk about progress, we don’t want to talk about backchannels. We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many many years, decades actually, through numerous administrations and they didn’t want to take on the issue and I had no choice but to take it on, and I’m taking it on,” he said.
Tillerson said that the President prefers a diplomatic solution.
“I think it takes a combined message there for everyone to get effective movement out of the regime in North Korea. I think what the president’s doing is trying to support our efforts by making sure North Korea understands what the stakes are,” he said.
Trump said he is returning to Washington on Monday for an important meeting and a press conference.
Responding to a question, Trump said he has not heard the North Korean leader say anything in the last three days.
“We heard the North Korean state TV saying we consider the US no more than a lump which we can beat to a jelly anytime,” a reporters said.
