
The Final Days of Kim Jong Un’s North Korea?
The White House has invited the entire U.S. Senate to a briefing on North Korea in the latest sign that we may be on the road to war. All 100 senators are expected to attend the Wednesday briefing, which will be conducted by a who’s who of Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
This unusual convention will come a day after President Trump met with ambassadors to the UN Security Council, where the tensions brewing in North Korea were front and center. In the meeting, Trump said it may be time for the Council to consider a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang, and he criticized the UN for failing to resolve the crisis before it got to the boiling point.
“The status quo in North Korea is unacceptable,” Trump said. “The council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs. This is a real threat to the world, whether we want to talk about it or not. North Korea is a big world problem and it’s a problem that we have to finally solve. People put blindfolds on for decades and now it’s time to solve the problem.”
In an interview with NBC’s Today Show, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said the administration was prepared to strike if North Korea laid a finger on our allies.
“We are not going to do anything unless he gives us reason to do something, so our goal is not to start a fight,” Haley said.
Asked what actions would be met with military retaliation, Haley said, “If you see him attack a military base, if you see some sort of intercontinental ballistic missile, then obviously we’re gonna do that. But right now we’re saying don’t test, don’t use nuclear missiles, don’t try and do any more actions, and I think he’s understanding that. And China’s really helping us put that pressure on him.”
Haley demurred when asked if another ballistic missile or nuclear test would provoke a military response, but she didn’t rule it out.
Put all of this together with the meeting occurring Wednesday at the White House and the aircraft carriers currently burning a path to the peninsula, and we could very well be looking at the final days of the Kim Jong Un regime. If this ends with the madman’s removal – and without a decade’s worth of costly U.S. occupation – it could instantly cement Trump’s status as one of the greatest presidents of all time.