President Donald Trump warned against North Korea’s making any further threats against the U.S. on Tuesday.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening — beyond a normal statement — and as I said, they will be met with fire, fury and, frankly, power the likes of which the world has never seen before,” Trump said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an event Tuesday afternoon.
After President Trump’s remarks, in a heated statement from Pyongyang, North Korea’s army said it is studying a plan to create an “enveloping fire” around Guam with ballistic missiles.
And at home, Sen. John McCain said, “I take exception to the president’s comments because you got to be sure that you can do what you say you’re going to do, in other words the old walk softly but carry a big stick.”
Monday, North Korean officials released a statement through the Korean Central News Agency, a state-run media outlet, in response to the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous approval of sanctions on August 5 to penalize the isolated regime for its escalating nuclear and missile programs, including its recent launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, most recently in late July.
North Korea slammed the penalties — which could slash a third of the country’s $3 billion in export revenue — as a “violent infringement of its sovereignty†and part of a “heinous U.S. plot to isolate and stifle†the country.
“It’s a wild idea to think the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] will be shaken and change its position due to this kind of new sanctions formulated by hostile forces,†the statement said.
The escalating tensions come as members of the U.S. intelligence community believe that North Korea’s nuclear capabilities may be more advanced than initially thought, and the country may have developed the technology to miniaturize a nuclear warhead that can be placed inside a missile, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.
