National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Tuesday that the U.S. will not tolerate a nuclear North Korea.
“What we’re really doing is applying maximum pressure on North Korea to convince Kim Jong-un that this is a dead end,” Mr. McMaster said on CBS News.
President Trump has demonstrated to the world that this is something no country should tolerate, and has led the effort toward isolating North Korea economically, Mr. McMaster said.
“What you’ve seen is an effort led by the president, worldwide really though, to isolate that regime, to cut off — not just what is restricted by the current U.N. Security Council resolutions — the president has asked all nations to cut off all trade with this rogue regime,” he said.
Mr. McMaster added that the president has been pushing leaders all over the world, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, to do more to challenge North Korea.
“The president did ask President Putin to do more, he wants all nations to do more, and it just doesn’t make sense that Russia would increase trade and alleviate any pressure on the North Korean regime,” he said.
“I don’t think we can tolerate that risk. The world can’t tolerate that risk,” Mr. McMaster said.
Tensions with North Korea have escalated in the past year with more missile tests by the regime and increasingly heated rhetoric.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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