NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Thursday [7-6-17] he is considering ‘some pretty severe things’ in response to North Korea’s continued efforts to develop nuclear weapons that can reach the U.S.
At a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, Mr. Trump said that North Korean leaders were ‘behaving in a very, very dangerous manner and something will have to be done about it.’ He didn’t say what steps he might take or if he is contemplating military action.
On the eve of Independence Day in the U.S., North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, an advance that could render the U.S. vulnerable to a nuclear attack.
Military reprisal by the U.S. carries risks, and Mr. Trump has sought other avenues to choke off North Korea’s nuclear program—notably, persuading China to use its influence to rein in Pyongyang.
Mr. Trump arrived in Poland late Wednesday for a series of meetings before heading to a Group of 20 summit meeting in Germany. He will meet in Hamburg with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, a forum where he is expected to make the case for more aggressive Chinese intervention.”
-Peter Nicholas and Anton Troianovski, “Trump Considers ‘Severe Things’ Over North Korea Threat,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 6, 2017 08:28am