Tensions stemming from the Korean Peninsula these days are palpable enough to be cut with a knife, which might present a better alternative than North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un continuing to fire missiles – most recently, an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 ballistic missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific Ocean.
While the U.S. stands firm in its assertions that the country is ready to defend against a missile attack, should North Korea formally launch one, North Korea itself has continued to fire inflammatory rhetoric at President Donald Trump and the United States.
Last week, North Korea said President Trump is a leader who tweets “weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts” and “spouts rubbish” just to give his assistants a hard time, according to an Associated Press report.
(Twitter)
This came straight from North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) out of Pyongyang, which was in response to both the U.S. and South Korea’s recent talk about North Korea’s missile program.
“Trump spouted rubbish that if a war breaks out, it would be on the Korean Peninsula, and if thousands of people die, they would be only Koreans and Americans may sleep a sound sleep,” the KCNA said, according to the report.
President Trump on Tuesday said “all options are on the table” when it comes to dealing with North Korea, according to a White House statement. This statement comes the day after North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan in what has been called its most provocative missile test yet.
On Monday, North Korea launched what is believed to have been an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile that flew over Hokkaido Island, in Japan.
This comes while the United States and South Korea are conducting war games. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has said that participating in these drills would be like “throwing fuel onto fire.”
Pyongyang also fired three short-range ballistic missiles from the Kangwon Province, two of which “flew approximately 250 kilometers in a northeastern direction” while the second missile “appears to have blown up almost immediately,” accoring to U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM).
Officials have said none of the recent four missiles posed a threat to Guam, the U.S. territory that North Korea recently threatened to bomb.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to run high.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) out of Pyongyang recently released new North Korean propaganda posters that “answer” the United States’ threats and warnings not to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or threaten Guam. One of the posters shows the U.S. Capitol building being blown up.
The propaganda posters came on the heels of North Korea backing down and calling off its threat to bomb Guam.
The KCNA had said that Kim Jong Un might change his mind “if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions.”
Rhetoric between the United States and North Korea has lately been nothing short of a soap opera.
On August 11 – prior to Mattis’ last comments, President Donald Trump threatened that Kim Jong Un will “truly regret it, and regret it fast” if North Korea were to fire any missile.
North Korea on August 8 threatened to attack Guam with intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missiles, and then said it would continue to plan a strike on the U.S. territory despite warnings from both President Trump and Defense Secretary Mattis, and that plans for the attack would be completed by mid-August.
This came on the heels of Trump saying August 8 that North Korea would be met with “fire and fury” if it continues to threaten the United States. And, Mattis also said North Korea should “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people.”
Trump later said his “fire and fury” statement might not have been “tough enough,” and the President said August 10 for North Korea to “get their act together” or the country will be in trouble “like few nations have ever been.”
Trump also said August 10 that while Americans should be “very comfortable,” North Koreans should be “very, very nervous […] because things will happen to them like they never thought possible.”
On August 11, Trump tweeted and warned Kim Jong Un that: “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”
North Korea had responded to U.S. threats not long before that, saying it considers the United States “no more than a lump which we can beat to a jelly any time.”
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