Dems: Trump remarks on North Korea unhelpful
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement Tuesday that President Trump’s “bombastic” comments in response to North Korea’s reported successful miniaturization of nuclear warheads are “not helping the situation.”
Trump addressed Pyongyang’s new nuclear capabilities at his New Jersey golf club on Tuesday, saying that North Korean threats would be “met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
Trump’s remarks raised eyebrows on social media, and Feinstein and other congressional Democrats called them unhelpful.
{mosads}
“Isolating the North Koreans has not halted their pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Feinstein said. “And President Trump is not helping the situation with his bombastic comments.”
“There is no question that North Korea is seeking to add a nuclear warhead to an [intercontinental ballistic missile] capable of reaching the United States,” she added.
According to a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment published Tuesday, North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to mount on an intercontinental ballistic missile, bringing isolated country closer to its goal of reaching the U.S. mainland with a nuclear weapon.
Feinstein added that “what this tells me is that our policy of isolating North Korea has not worked. The United States must quickly engage North Korea in a high-level dialogue without any preconditions. Hopefully, Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson is already discussing the possibility of reopening talks with our Asian partners during his current trip. In my view, diplomacy is the only sound path forward.”
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted on Tuesday saying Trump’s remarks were “unwise” and that nominees for “Ambassador to South Korea, Secretary for East Asia Affairs, and Secretary for Asian Pacific Security Affairs sent to Senate now.”
This is unwise. https://t.co/o3eW8OfXJ5
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 8, 2017
We need professionals guiding this process. We learned from our wars in the Middle East- bad decisions can make a terrible situation worse.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 8, 2017
Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump’s comments “were not helpful and once again show that he lacks the temperament and judgement to deal with the serious crisis the United States confronts.”
“We should not be engaging in the same kind of blustery and provocative statements as North Korea about nuclear war,” Cardin said.
Tillerson met with Thai leaders in Bangkok on Tuesday to push the country to act on the growing North Korea threat.
