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‘Locked and Loaded,’ Trump Tweets in New Threat to North Korea

Issuing a new threat to North Korea, President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the United States is prepared to take military action if the country should "act unwisely."

WASHINGTON (CN) - Issuing a new threat to North Korea, President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the United States is prepared to take military action if the country should "act unwisely."

"Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely," Trump tweeted. "Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!"

Trump's tweet comes a day after he told reporters at his New Jersey golf club that he could have added teeth to Monday’s controversial comment promising North Korea would be met with "fire and fury" if its provocations continue.

The tweet also comes after an editorial published in a state-run Chinese newspaper warned that, while China will stay neutral if North Korea fires at the United States, it would have to defend its trading partner if the United States or South Korea attempts a regime change in Pyongyang.

"China should also make clear that if the North Korea launches missiles that threaten U.S. soil first and the U.S. retaliates, China will stay neutral," the editorial reads. "If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/895970429734711298

Tensions with North Korea have escalated in the past week following a vote in the United Nations Security Council that put in place new sanctions against Pyongyang. That led to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho promising that North Korea will never give up its nuclear or ballistic missiles, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made a condition of any negotiation between the United States and North Korea.

North Korea’s military later said in a statement in a state-run newspaper that it was preparing a plan to fire four missiles into the waters around the U.S. territory of Guam.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that intelligence analysts believe North Korea has the capability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead, which would allow the country to attach a nuclear weapon to its ballistic missiles. North Korea claims its missiles can reach the United States' mainland.

Categories / Government, International

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