Donald Trump: ‘We will handle North Korea’

President Donald Trump (C) speaks Monday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, including (L-R) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI

July 31 (UPI) — President Donald Trump, speaking Monday during his second full Cabinet meeting, said his administration will be able to “handle” North Korea after it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday.

The president, responding to a question from a reporter during the public portion of the meeting, said: “We will handle North Korea. We are gonna be able to handle them. It will be handled. We handle everything.”

He offered no specific plans in the aftermath of the second intercontinental ballistic test this month. This time experts believe it could have threatened most U.S. cities.

On Friday, Trump tweeted, “I am very disappointed in China. They do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

On Sunday, the United States said it successfully tested its missile defense system in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. forces also sent two B-1 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on a 10-hour round trip Saturday over the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, South Korea’s new defense minister Song Young-moo said President Moon Jae-in wants to deploy additional THAAD interceptor launchers and remains open to placing the additional launchers at a different site. Seongju, which was once a golf course owned by Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate that may have been the target of recent Chinese embargoes, is the location of permanently installed THAAD launchers.

Trump said North Korea and the Middle East are “some interesting situations that we’ll handle.” He said they are “lots of problems that we inherited from previous administrations.”

Despite those problems, he said “we have a lot of tremendous things going” — including the booming stock market, low unemployment and business enthusiasm.

At the meeting, Trump welcomed his new chief of staff, John Kelly, who replaced Reince Priebus. Kelly was formerly Homeland Security secretary.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat directly across from the president. Trump has criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

Vice President Mike Pence was in Estonia on Monday to speak with that nation’s leader as well as those from Lithuania and Latvia. He will conclude his three-day trip to Europe with visits to Montenegro and to Georgia.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here