US President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again on Monday evening to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.
His comments come a day after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, appeared to try to put pressure on Trump by announcing his country is in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US,” Trump tweeted. “It won’t happen!”
Although Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear state, Trump has not previously clearly stated his policy on the state.
In a 30-minute televised New Year’s speech on Sunday, Kim said Pyongyang had “soared as a nuclear power,” adding that it is now a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.”
Although he did not make a specific reference to the incoming Trump administration, he called on Washington to make a “resolute decision to withdraw its anachronistic hostile North Korea policy.”
North Korea carried out two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches last year in pursuit of its oft-stated goal — developing a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.
Source: AFP
