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[webfact]

Trump calls North Korea 'growing direct threat' to most of world

By Amy Tennery

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump looks up while hosting a House and Senate leadership lunch at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in affirmed in a Sunday telephone call that North Korea poses a growing threat to most of the world after recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, the White House said.

 

In their call, the two leaders also welcomed the U.N. Security Council's unanimous passage of a resolution on Saturday imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, the White House said in a statement.

 

"The two leaders affirmed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, South Korea, and Japan, as well as to most countries around the world," the White House said. "The leaders committed to fully implement all relevant resolutions and to urge the international community to do so as well."

 

The new sanctions on Pyongyang could slash North Korea's $3 billion annual export revenue by a third. North Korea has been a focus of international attention in recent months, as it has conducted a series of ballistic missile tests, including two in July that helped prompt the U.N. action.

 

The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean labourers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

 

Washington has threatened to exert trade pressure on Beijing and impose sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang. Last week, Trump signed into law a sweeping set of sanctions on North Korea passed by the U.S. Congress.

 

China's foreign minister said on Sunday new U.N. sanctions on North Korea were the right response to a series of missile tests, but dialogue was vital to resolve a complex and sensitive issue, now at a "critical juncture."

 

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006. The new measures, which expand the existing sanctions, were a response to five nuclear tests and four long-range missile launches.

 

The standoff is expected to dominate Monday's ASEAN Regional Forum, a gathering of 27 foreign ministers, including former participants in halted six-party talks on North Korea - Russia, Japan, the United States, China and North and South Korea.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and David Shepardson in Washington and Amy Tennery in Bedminister, N.J.; Editing by Diane Craft and Lincoln Feast)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-07

[baboon]

How many foreign countries have they ever attacked or invaded, Mr Trump? How many has yours?

How many missiles and nuclear weapons do they possess, Mr Trump? How many does your country?

 

The rest of the sheeple might go along with all this 'World menace' crap, but I am not buying it any more. Soon it will be Venezuela poised on the brink of destroying the human race and they will be dancing to that tune as well...

[boomerangutang]

The Great Sage Father in the WH....  might as well declare water is wet, or leaves are green.

 

We know N.Korea is a threat.  So is global warming, ebola, STI's, tuberculosis, rabies, and Trump offspring.

 

As Baboon mentions, above, N.Korea hasn't attacked any country (except a missile shot to a S.Korean island), in decades.   How many countries have the US, Britain, Russia attacked in the past several decades?

 

Yes, bluster by a man controlling nukes is troubling, .....but can you guess which man I'm alluding to?

[craigt3365]

4 hours ago, baboon said:

How many foreign countries have they ever attacked or invaded, Mr Trump? How many has yours?

How many missiles and nuclear weapons do they possess, Mr Trump? How many does your country?

 

The rest of the sheeple might go along with all this 'World menace' crap, but I am not buying it any more. Soon it will be Venezuela poised on the brink of destroying the human race and they will be dancing to that tune as well...

South Korea was attacked.  With casualties in around 1 million.  Mostly civilians.  It's great that a few countries are trying to avoid a repeat of that.

 

You may not buy it, that's well documented.  Luckily, most of the rest of the world is standing firm against NK.  As proven by the recent UN sanction bill being passed.  With Support by Russia and China.

 

Venezuela?  What's that got to do with this topic? LOL

 

 

[craigt3365]

4 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

The Great Sage Father in the WH....  might as well declare water is wet, or leaves are green.

 

We know N.Korea is a threat.  So is global warming, ebola, STI's, tuberculosis, rabies, and Trump offspring.

 

As Baboon mentions, above, N.Korea hasn't attacked any country (except a missile shot to a S.Korean island), in decades.   How many countries have the US, Britain, Russia attacked in the past several decades?

 

Yes, bluster by a man controlling nukes is troubling, .....but can you guess which man I'm alluding to?

But the issue here isn't how many countries xyz, etc, have invaded.  This is about NK.  And the threats they are currently making.

[dunroaming]

6 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

South Korea was attacked.  With casualties in around 1 million.  Mostly civilians.  It's great that a few countries are trying to avoid a repeat of that.

 

You may not buy it, that's well documented.  Luckily, most of the rest of the world is standing firm against NK.  As proven by the recent UN sanction bill being passed.  With Support by Russia and China.

 

Venezuela?  What's that got to do with this topic? LOL

 

 

Yes North Korea is a threat.  A threat because of it's volatile, unstable leader, quite similar to the USA at the moment.  China and Russia are now backing more sanctions and they will control (well China will) what happens when it comes to Kim.  I can understand how frustrating this is for Trump and his massive ego but he will just have to go with what the grown-ups decide to do.

[retarius]

More nonsense from Trump. NK's leaders just want to be left alone and not be bullied. They have noticed that nuclear powers are rarely bullied by the US (eg Pakistan even as a training ground for terrorists or Israel).

 

Stop bullying and meddling and no one will bully or meddle with you. If the US is sensible this is the course to follow and not see every problem as an excuse for more war. Can someone tell me what nations have been left better off as a result of US military intervention? Out of the 50 or so regime changes and invasions, I can think of one....Kuwait. Perhaps our American friends can tell us all the others. Viet Nam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Syria? Ukraine? Korea? Cambodia? Laos? Chile?

[craigt3365]

6 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Yes North Korea is a threat.  A threat because of it's volatile, unstable leader, quite similar to the USA at the moment.  China and Russia are now backing more sanctions and they will control (well China will) what happens when it comes to Kim.  I can understand how frustrating this is for Trump and his massive ego but he will just have to go with what the grown-ups decide to do.

Luckily, the US has a better form of government than NK!  Trump is boxed in by congress.  Luckily!!!!

[craigt3365]

3 minutes ago, retarius said:

More nonsense from Trump. NK's leaders just want to be left alone and not be bullied. They have noticed that nuclear powers are rarely bullied by the US (eg Pakistan even as a training ground for terrorists or Israel).

 

Stop bullying and meddling and no one will bully or meddle with you. If the US is sensible this is the course to follow and not see every problem as an excuse for more war. Can someone tell me what nations have been left better off as a result of US military intervention? Out of the 50 or so regime changes and invasions, I can think of one....Kuwait. Perhaps our American friends can tell us all the others. Viet Nam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Syria? Ukraine? Korea? Cambodia? Laos? Chile?

If you want to be left alone, why would you show a video at a major rally showing NYC being nuked?  That's hardly asking to be left alone! LOL

 

Iran has nukes and Israel bombed them. LOL

 

As for the rest, that's not part of this topic.  But feel free to open another thread so we can discuss it.

[retarius]

Iran doesnt have any nukes as has been established by many inspections. Iraq didn;t have any and the US pushed the UN weapons inspector out of the way and invaded the country 14 years ago. It's citizens haven't had a night of peace since. However much a cheerleader you are for US wars, it doesn't make the outcome of them any more successful for the poor souls who have had family members killed by American bombs or 'contractors' or ISIS sponsored by the CIA....add to that all the kids whose lives have been blighted by being orphans, by having their schools bombed, or by going hungray and being scared all the time. It is time for the ignorance and wars to stop. The American love war because the war is never on their soil....they want to be free to prosecute any war they want supported by the UN or not. These are the facts, not the musings of a war fanatic who doesn't give a damn about the millions of people killed or blighted by war.

[dunroaming]

5 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Luckily, the US has a better form of government than NK!  Trump is boxed in by congress.  Luckily!!!!

Yes thank god, Trump is chomping at the bit to hit North Korea without any thought of the dire consequences.

[craigt3365]

Just now, retarius said:

Iran doesnt have any nukes as has been established by many inspections. Iraq didn;t have any and the US pushed the UN weapons inspector out of the way and invaded the country 14 years ago. It's citizens haven't had a night of peace since. However much a cheerleader you are for US wars, it doesn't make the outcome of them any more successful for the poor souls who have had family members killed by American bombs or 'contractors' or ISIS sponsored by the CIA....add to that all the kids whose lives have been blighted by being orphans, by having their schools bombed, or by going hungray and being scared all the time. It is time for the ignorance and wars to stop. The American love war because the war is never on their soil....they want to be free to prosecute any war they want supported by the UN or not. These are the facts, not the musings of a war fanatic who doesn't give a damn about the millions of people killed or blighted by war.

Wow.  Nice rant. LOL  Most makes no sense at all.  But yes, blame it all on the US and the CIA.

 

As for orphans.  You are right.  Quite a few in Syria now.  But that doesn't seem to be of importance?

[Morch]

Even if US foreign policy is all that's suggested above, it still doesn't make NK a non-issue as threats go.

 

[stevenl]

23 minutes ago, Morch said:

Even if US foreign policy is all that's suggested above, it still doesn't make NK a non-issue as threats go.

 

Why would NK be a threat? Because it is on its way to have nukes? Anything wrong with a country having nukes when the neighbours have them (direct or indirect)? Because they test missiles? All countries with missiles test/have tested them. Because it is not a democracy?

[rocketman777]

N.Korea knows what happens when a country defies US hegemony.

 

They are all to well aware of the long list of unprovoked attacks by the US since WWII  from  the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada to Iraq, Libya ,Syria  all on a similar pretext of removing a ' crazy ' dictator.

 

Sadly Kim Jong-un bluff ( we hope) to use nuclear weapons to defend N.Korea only serves to add justification for invasion.

 

In fact the overwhelming conventional military might of the US and its preparedness to use it unilaterally  is the very driving force for countries to obtain Nuclear weapons and a delivery system as the ultimate means of  deference.

 

The US propaganda setting up the justification and pretext for an attack is now in place. The Chicken Hawks are ready. The attack on N.Korea is imminent probable once a third Carrier group arrives in the area.

 

Get ready again  for the carnage of perhaps millions in the name of democracy

 

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by rocketman777

[Morch]

Just now, stevenl said:

Why would NK be a threat? Because it is on its way to have nukes? Anything wrong with a country having nukes when the neighbours have them (direct or indirect)? Because they test missiles? All countries with missiles test/have tested them. Because it is not a democracy?

 

I guess it depends on whether the country in question makes threats of using such weapons. Also, most countries having them got some checks and balances in place, to one degree or another. Don't think that's really applies to NK.

 

If it was just conventional capabilities, it would have been less of an issue.

 

 

[dunroaming]

Surely the main issue here is the lunatic in charge in North Korea.  I see nothing wrong in arming your country as a deterrent and if you are protecting yourself from a military power such as the USA then you clearly need a some serious hardware.  It is not the capability of North Korea's response to attack it is threat due to the instability of it's leader and that needs to be monitored very closely.  The best people to do that is surely China and then the UN to back it up.

 

Trump is in trouble and failing every day and desperately needs to be able to flex his military muscles.  This makes him as unstable as Kim. Both men (?) need to be monitored carefully.   

[boomerangutang]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

South Korea was attacked.  With casualties in around 1 million.  Mostly civilians.  It's great that a few countries are trying to avoid a repeat of that.  You may not buy it, that's well documented.  Luckily, most of the rest of the world is standing firm against NK.  As proven by the recent UN sanction bill being passed.  With Support by Russia and China.  Venezuela?  What's that got to do with this topic? LOL

When Baboon asked rhetorically, 'who has North Korea attacked', I think he was referring to since the Korean war, which essentially ended 60 years ago."  Ok, I know the 2 Koreas are technically still at war, but there hasn't been open warfare between the two since the 1950's.   In contrast, look at how many armed conflicts the US has been involved with since the 1950's.

 

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

If you want to be left alone, why would you show a video at a major rally showing NYC being nuked?  That's hardly asking to be left alone! LOL   Iran has nukes and Israel bombed them. LOL

As for the rest, that's not part of this topic.  But feel free to open another thread so we can discuss it.

Actually, Israel conducted a pre-emptive strike on an Iraqi nuclear plant which was purportedly enriching (or gearing up to enrich) U.  It was brilliantly successful.  Several Israeli jets went at night, bombed the place, and returned safely.  There was no Iraqi retaliation - and that was when Saddam was in power, and before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

 

Perhaps we world citizens should leave it up to the Israelis to put nuke bomb-making facilities out of business.  The N.Americans and EU could pay them $1 billion for each nuke-making facility they destroy, and $10 million for each nuke bomb destroyed. That would be cheaper and more effective than any current strategy.    

 

My dad was a career CIA guy and several times I heard him half-joke; "If you want an intel job done well, get the Israelis to do it."   .....and that was in the 1970's and '80's, and it's even more true now, with Trump in the WH. 

 

37 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Why would NK be a threat? Because it is on its way to have nukes? Anything wrong with a country having nukes when the neighbours have them (direct or indirect)? Because they test missiles? All countries with missiles test/have tested them. Because it is not a democracy?

                                  Nukes should be outlawed the world over - by every country, bar none. Neither Kim nor Trump can fathom that.  Al Gore and others worked tirelessly in the 80's and 90's for non-proliferation and lessening # of nukes.  It worked to some extent.  If we had sensible people like Gore in seats of power, that initiative would continue, and there would plausibly be many fewer nukes in the world than there are now - toward a goal of zero.  

[Morch]

Them peaceful North Koreans...

 

List of border incidents involving North Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_Korea

[craigt3365]

3 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

When Baboon asked rhetorically, 'who has North Korea attacked', I think he was referring to since the Korean war, which essentially ended 60 years ago."  Ok, I know the 2 Koreas are technically still at war, but there hasn't been open warfare between the two since the 1950's.   In contrast, look at how many armed conflicts the US has been involved with since the 1950's.

 

Actually, Israel conducted a pre-emptive strike on an Iraqi nuclear plant which was purportedly enriching (or gearing up to enrich) U.  It was brilliantly successful.  Several Israeli jets went at night, bombed the place, and returned safely.  There was no Iraqi retaliation - and that was when Saddam was in power, and before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

 

Perhaps we world citizens should leave it up to the Israelis to put nuke bomb-making facilities out of business.  The N.Americans and EU could pay them $1 billion for each nuke-making facility they destroy, and $10 million for each nuke bomb destroyed. That would be cheaper and more effective than any current strategy.    

 

My dad was a career CIA guy and several times I heard him half-joke; "If you want an intel job done well, get the Israelis to do it."   .....and that was in the 1970's and '80's, and it's even more true now, with Trump in the WH. 

 

                                  Nukes should be outlawed the world over - by every country, bar none. Neither Kim nor Trump can fathom that.  Al Gore and others worked tirelessly in the 80's and 90's for non-proliferation and lessening # of nukes.  It worked to some extent.  If we had sensible people like Gore in seats of power, that initiative would continue, and there would plausibly be many fewer nukes in the world than there are now - toward a goal of zero.  

 

The US has made mistakes. For sure!  But that's not the point here.  The past is the past and hopefully, we've learned from it.  Hopefully. LOL

 

So we're now suppose to let a dictatorship threaten a country with a nuclear strike and take no action?  Just because we screwed up in Iraq 2, Vietnam?  Doesn't make sense.  But yes, there's been no peace treaty signed.  So it's still a war.  60 years on.  Isn't that enough?

 

I'm 100% for a nuclear free world.  Sadly, that will never happen.  The best we can do is prevent more countries from acquiring this devastating technology.

[baboon]

12 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

When Baboon asked rhetorically, 'who has North Korea attacked', I think he was referring to since the Korean war, which essentially ended 60 years ago."  Ok, I know the 2 Koreas are technically still at war, but there hasn't been open warfare between the two since the 1950's.   In contrast, look at how many armed conflicts the US has been involved with since the 1950's.

 

The DPRK has never attacked a foreign country. South Korea can hardly be called a foreign country apart from by certain blatherskites on this forum - Koreans attacked Koreans in Korea. Hardly a foreign war...

Edited August 7, 2017 by baboon

[craigt3365]

Just now, baboon said:

The DPRK has never attacked a foreign country. South Korea can hardly be called a foreign country apart from by certain blatherskites on this forum - Koreans attacked Korea.

BS.  The DPRK started the war.  You're nickpicking.  Rose colored glasses for sure.

[craigt3365]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea

Quote

 

The division of Korea between North and South Korea was the result of the Allied victory in World War II in 1945, ending the Empire of Japan's 35-year rule of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union occupied the country, with the boundary between their zones of control along the 38th parallel.

With the onset of the Cold War, negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union failed to lead to an independent, unified Korea. In 1948, UN-supervised elections were held in the US-occupied south only. This led to the establishment of the Republic of Korea in South Korea, which was promptly followed by the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in North Korea. The United States supported the South, and the Soviet Union supported the North, and each government claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula.

 

South Korea is a free, independent, and prosperous country now.  NK?  Well....not so much. I guess the US does some good things from time to time. LOL

[Thaidream]

As an American who served in the US military in Korea during the 1960s and was stationed very close to North Korea on the Demilitarized Zone- I am well aware of the thinking on both sides.  North Korea invaded the South and the Americans pushed them all the way back to the Yalu River separating  NOrth Korea from China. China intervened and then pushed the Americans back to around the 38th Parallel when the armistice was agreed upon. Technically, North Korea and the south and its allies are in a state of war with N Korea. During the years there have been many incursions into the DMZ by the North and attacks by the North on US Forces and South Korea facilities. There have be no attacks on N Korea by the Americans or South Korea.

 

technically, North Korea has never invaded another country. However, the North, instead of developing its country and assisting its citizens to prosper has  used a totalitarian system to force its citizens to work for  'slave' wages to support a huge military complex and allow its leaders to live lavishly.  No one in South Korea or America is living in such conditions to support  their respective Governments so we can develop nuclear weapons or fight wars. America has its faults but is not a totalitarian dictatorship.

 

I was also in Vietnam and I know quite well that the Us Government lied to me and other participants of this war that killed almost 60K Americans and millions of Vietnamese. The Iraq war was another misstep by the Us administration and I am very suspicious of American involvement abroad and that also include a 17 year war in Afghanistan.  I assure you that the average American does not support overseas wars per se.

 

Now back to Korea- the North has developed a nuclear bomb and is working on INtercontinental Ballistic Missiles to deliver these warheads to anyplace they desire.  They have stated over and over again they will take out South Korea; Japan and America.  Does America have a right to protect its citizens from potential annihilation or shall we believe that the NOrth Koreans are just posturing?  This situation has nothing to do with past US mistakes but everything to do with a potential tyrant going down in a sea of flames taking millions of others with him.

 

Is America pursuing a war with North Korea. I seriously doubt this because even with Trump's incompetence- he has military generals who know very well that a US attack on North Korea will cause a massive response from the North . Seoul is about 30 miles away and the North has a wide array of weapons that can cause death and destruction beyond comprehension to the South and their missiles can reach Japan's capital. A third aircraft carrier will trigger no war as the US does not have assets in place to fight North Korea.  The number of troops in Korea or even Japan is not sufficient to wage a war on the Korean Peninsula.  Hundreds of thousands of  infantry would need to be deployed as well as a huge number of aircraft. Most of these would come from the US and there is no movement of any of these assets into the Pacific.

 

The solution is for North Korea to come to the negotiation table with America and the South and end the war.  The Korean peninsula becomes denuclearized. America withdraws its troops and pledges not to invade the North and encourages the North to move towards a market economy with financial assistance from both countries. The United Nations sends its inspectors to verify the North is giving up its nuclear program and everyone lives happily ever after.  

 

 

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

Surely the main issue here is the lunatic in charge in North Korea.  I see nothing wrong in arming your country as a deterrent and if you are protecting yourself from a military power such as the USA then you clearly need a some serious hardware.  It is not the capability of North Korea's response to attack it is threat due to the instability of it's leader and that needs to be monitored very closely.  The best people to do that is surely China and then the UN to back it up.

 

Trump is in trouble and failing every day and desperately needs to be able to flex his military muscles.  This makes him as unstable as Kim. Both men (?) need to be monitored carefully.   

So we like somebody and they can have nukes and we dislike somebody and we consider them a threat and try to prevent them getting nukes.

[Morch]

1 minute ago, stevenl said:

So we like somebody and they can have nukes and we dislike somebody and we consider them a threat and try to prevent them getting nukes.

 

If there was a military nuclear capable country "we liked" and it would start issuing threats, it would be considered a threat as well.

[Thaidream]

The Worldwide goal should be the lessening of nuclear weapons not allowing other Nations to proliferate these type of weapons.  The US, Russia; and  China as well as the other nuclear powers should be working together to lessen their numbers and making sure other Nations do not acquire the technology to develop this type of weapon.  These weapons are so destructive that they cannot be used by any Nation. Right now Nations that have them are playing nuclear poker and the World does not need any more players. America and the rest of the World nuclear nations need to work together to get N Korea to scuttle its nuclear program and make sure Iran cannot proceed further.

[thaihome]

Two very important facts need to be acknowledged here.

1. North  Korea, under the current regime,  will never give up its nuclear weapons. Internal politics alone will never allow them to do so.

 

2. There cannot be a unilateral military action action against North Korea. The response by North Korea is completely unacceptable. 

 

N. Korea's development of nuclear weapons, even ones that could reach the US, has not fundamentally changed the reality of the situation on the ground. Even without nuclear weapons N. Korea can cause damage to S. Korea that is unacceptable. 

 

What needs to been done, is to continue to emphasize to N. Korea a deterrent that can be summarized as "your assured destruction" or to put it another way, your decision to attack on S. Korea or the use of nuclear weapons anywhere will be the last decision you make. 

 

The US lived with a mutual assured destruction strategy for 50 years, surely it can live with a "your assured destruction" strategy for N. Korea for some time in future.  Again, this is not a big change to what has been going on for over 20 years already. Hinder the weapons and missle programs all you can, pass sanctions that hurt the military and watch the continued very slow self destruction of the regime. 

 

Oh, and cut out the demogugary that does nothing but inflame the situation and takes a real chance of being a self fulfilling prophecy. 

 

TH 

 

[dunroaming]

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

If there was a military nuclear capable country "we liked" and it would start issuing threats, it would be considered a threat as well.

I consider Trump to be a threat when it comes to North Korea along side Kim.  The nuclear weapons argument has gone on for many years and will continue to do so.  I can live with that as long as nobody uses their nuclear arsenal.

[craigt3365]

55 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

I consider Trump to be a threat when it comes to North Korea along side Kim.  The nuclear weapons argument has gone on for many years and will continue to do so.  I can live with that as long as nobody uses their nuclear arsenal.

Trump is a threat for sure.  But things changed when north Korea got a missile that could hit the US. Many are not comfortable with a nut like Kim in control of the button.