Summary: On Monday, a North Korean representative threatened nuclear war with the United States.
Will President Donald Trump lead us into a war against North Korea? While it is uncertain what will happen, a North Korean diplomat’s chilling words at a United Nations press conference has given us reason to feel fear.
CNN reported that North Korea’s UN deputy representative, Kim In Ryong, wished journalists a good Easter holiday weekend before he warned them of possible thermonuclear war. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has threatened the United States with war multiple times over the last few decades, but Trump’s aggressive tweeting and a recent visit to the area by Vice President Mike Pence has escalated the tension between the U.S. and the totalitarian country.
On Monday, Pence visited the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and the conservative VP warned North Korea not to test the United States and its strong military.
“The era of strategic patience is over,” Pence said. “President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change. We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable.”
Hours later after Pence’s visit, North Korea issued an angry response when Kim In Ryong appeared at a hastily put-together United Nations press conference and threatened war with the United States.
Kim In Ryong expressed his disproval of the US having naval power in the Korean Peninsula, and he also condemned Trump’s recent decision to launch missiles at Syria.
“It has created a dangerous situation in which thermonuclear war may break out at any moment on the peninsula and poses a serious threat to world peace and security,” Kim In Ryong said.
The North Korean spokesman said that their country’s threat of war were serious. He said that DPRK was prepared to respond to any “mode of war” that the United States initiated, and this could mean nuclear war or a missile strike.
“The US is disturbing the global peace and stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a sovereign state is ‘decisive, and just, and proportionate’ and contributes to ‘defending’ the international order in its bid to apply it to the Korean Peninsula as well,” Kim In Ryong said.
After North Korea’s press conference, the United Nations expressed their worry.
“We’re obviously deeply concerned about the rising tensions that we’ve seen in the Korean Peninsula. We call on all to redouble their diplomatic efforts,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Dujarric condemned the United States and North Korea for their actions in this situation. He denounced the United States for entering the Korean Peninsula and “pushing the situation there to a brink of war,” but he refused to comment on Trump’s tweets, which tend to have a bullyish tone. He stated that North Korea’s recent failed missile launch over the weekend was “troubling” and he called on them to “de-escalate the situation and return to a dialogue on denuclearization.”
The United Nations Security Council will meet later this month to discuss North Korea’s possible nuclear arsenal, and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be attending. North Korea is reportedly upset with the meeting.
Source: CNN