President Trump once again responded with a “We’ll see” when asked if he would take military action against North Korea over its escalating military provocations.
Heading from the White House to a rally in North Dakota to push tax reform, Trump was asked if he has considered using the US military on President Kim Jong Un’s government.
“We’re going to see what happens. We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters as he prepared to board Marine One. “Certainly, that’s not a first choice, but we will see what happens. Thank you very much.”
On Monday, a day after Pyongyang announced it had successfully detonated a nuclear device, Trump also said “We’ll see” when asked about using the military option.
Trump also said he had a “good strong phone call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who he has been lobbying to exert more pressure on North Korea, which relies on the country for the bulk of its trade.
“President Xi would like to do something. We’ll see whether or not he can do it,” Trump said. “But we will not be putting up with what’s happening in North Korea. I believe that President Xi agrees with me 100 percent. He doesn’t want to see what’s happening there, either. We had a very, very frank and very strong phone call.”
At a emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, US Ambassador Nikki Haley condemned Kim’s “abusive use of missiles” and said he was “begging for war.”
She urged the 15-member council to imposed another round of strict sanctions against North Korea for its weapons development program.