President-elect Donald Trump vowed Monday that North Korea won’t develop a system capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the U.S., a day after the rogue country’s leader said it is close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!” Mr. Trump said via Twitter.
Minutes later, he also seemed to issue a new challenge to China to make an effort to rein in its neighbor.
“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!” he tweeted.
Twitter has been Mr. Trump’s favorite way of communicating directly with Americans and the rest of the world. Earlier in the day the president-elect used the online platform to deny reports that he had anticipated losing the November election, saying he “thought and felt I would win big.”
Mr. Trump didn’t elaborate on his plans for stopping North Korea, but the post appears to be a response to Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s speech in which the Supreme Leader said his country has become a nuclear power, and is in the final stages of preparing for an ICBM test.
An ICBM could threaten the continental U.S.
During the presidential campaign Mr. Trump made waves by suggesting that other countries should gain nuclear capabilities to even out threats from rogue regimes such as North Korea.
Last month he also seemed to reset U.S. nuclear policy via Twitter, saying the country needs to update its nuclear posture. That announcement came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would enhance his own nation’s capabilities.
“The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” Mr. Trump tweeted Dec. 22, a day after meeting with top Air Force brass.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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