Agencies
Seoul, Nov 8: President Donald Trump Wednesday issued a blunt warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong that nuclear provocation could result in the Communist nation’s obliteration.
“The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger,” Trump said during a speech at South Korea’s National Assembly here. “Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face” Trump declared during his first major speech in Asia.
Trump lashed out at the repressive regime founded by Kim Il-sung in the 1950s and governed by his dynasty ever since. “North Korea is not the paradise your grandfather envisioned,” Trump said. “It is a hell that no person deserves.”
Denouncing Pyongyang’s “cruel dictatorship” and nuclear adventurism, Trump warned it not to “underestimate” Washington’s strength.
“This is a very different administration than the ones the US has had in the past. Today I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us. And do not try us.”
Trump also reiterated his mantra of “peace through strength” and called on China, Russia and the world to join his efforts to isolate the “brutal regime”, Yonhap reported.
“The North Korean regime interpreted America’s past restraint as weakness. That would be a fatal miscalculation,” he said, speaking to 550 people, including South Korean lawmakers and foreign diplomats.
“The world cannot tolerate this rogue regime that threatens it with nuclear devastation. All nations must join hands to isolate the brutal regime of North Korea,” Trump said.
Trump warned Pyongyang not to think of an attack. “We will not allow our cities to be threatened,” he said. “America does not seek confrontation, but we will never run from it. We will not permit America or our allies to be attacked,” he added.
The speech, the first by a US leader to the Korean Parliament in 24 years, was delivered one day after he held a summit with President Moon Jae-in.
Trump also apparently held out the prospect of engagement with the North, though on strict conditions.
“We will offer a path to a better future. It begins with an end to the aggression of your regime, a stop to your development of ballistic missiles, and complete, verifiable and total denuclearization,” he said.
Drawing a sharp contrast between the two Koreas, he used much of the speech to hail the achievements of South Korea.
“Your success is the greatest cause of anxiety and panic to the North Korean regime. That is why the Kim regime seeks conflict,” he noted.
He cancelled a visit to the heavily fortified border that separates the two Koreas due to the bad weather.
Trump arrived here on Tuesday as part of his five nation Asia visit. His next stop will be China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
