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WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Trump: If North Korea attacks U.S., it ‘will regret it fast’
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Presi-
dent Donald Trump on Friday issued
fresh threats of swift and forceful
retaliation against nuclear North
Korea, declaring the U.S. military
“locked and loaded” and warning
that the communist country’s leader
“will regret it fast” if he takes any
action against U.S. territories or
allies.
The warnings came in a
cascade of unscripted statements
throughout the day, each ratcheting
up a rhetorical standoff between the
two nuclear nations. The president
appeared to draw another red line
that would trigger a U.S. attack
against North Korea and “big, big
trouble” for its leader, Kim Jong Un.
Trump’s comments, however, did
not appear to be backed by signifi-
cant military mobilization on either
side of the Pacific, and an important,
quiet diplomatic channel remained
open.
“If he utters one threat in the form
of an overt threat — which by the
way he has been uttering for years
and his family has been uttering for
years — or he does anything with
respect to Guam or anyplace else
that’s an American territory or an
American ally, he will truly regret
it and he will regret it fast,” Trump
told reporters at his New Jersey golf
resort.
Asked if the U.S. was going to
war, he said cryptically, “I think you
know the answer to that.”
The compounding threats came
in a week in which longstanding
tensions between the countries risked
abruptly boiling over. New United
Nations sanctions condemning the
North’s rapidly developing nuclear
program drew fresh ire and threats
from Pyongyang. Trump responded
by vowing to rain down “fire and
fury” if challenged. The North
then threatened to lob missiles near
Guam, a tiny U.S. territory some
2,000 miles from Pyongyang.
Tough talk aside, talks between
senior U.S. and North Korean
diplomats continue through a back
AP file photos
This combination of photos show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 15 in Pyongyang, North
Korea, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on April 29.
of U.S. forces in South
channel previously used
Korea to show they’re
to negotiate the return of
always ready for combat
Americans held in North
on the Korean Peninsula.
Korea.
Trump declined to
he talks have expanded
explain the boast of
to address the deterioration
military readiness when
of the relationship. They
asked by reporters later in
haven’t quelled tensions,
the day at an event high-
but could be a foundation
lighting workforce devel-
for a more diplomacy,
opment programs. He
according to U.S. officials
also brushed away calls
and others briefed on the
for caution from world
process. They weren’t
leaders, including Germa-
authorized to discuss the
ny’s Angela Merkel.
confidential
exchanges
“I don’t see a military
and spoke on condition of
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
anonymity.
U.S. soldiers fire a salute during a change of com- solution and I don’t think
Trump on Friday sought mand and change of responsibility ceremony it’s called for,” Merkel
to project military strength, for Deputy Commander of the South Korea-U.S. said Friday, declining to
only dialing back slightly Combined Force Command at Yongsan Garrison, say whether Germany
a U.S. military base, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday. would stand with the U.S.
throughout the day.
in a military conflict with
He began with a
morning tweet: “Military solutions B-1B Lancer bomber planes on North Korea. She called on the U.N.
are now fully in place, locked and Guam that “stand ready to fulfill Security Council to continue to
loaded, should North Korea act USFK’s #FightTonight mission if address the crisis.
“I think escalating the rhetoric is
unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un called upon to do so.” Such declara-
will find another path!”
tions, however, don’t indicate a new, the wrong answer,” Merkel added.
“Let her speak for Germany,”
He later retweeted a posting from more aggressive posture. “Fight
U.S. Pacific Command that showed tonight” has long been the motto Trump said, when asked about the
comment. “Perhaps she is referring
to Germany. She’s certainly not
referring to the United States, that I
can tell you.”
By evening, after a briefing with
top advisers and standing next to his
secretary of state and U.N. ambas-
sador, Trump suggested diplomacy
could yet prevail.
“Hopefully it’ll all work out,”
Trump said. “Nobody loves a
peaceful solution better than Presi-
dent Trump.”
The president said he intended to
speak Friday evening with China’s
President Xi Jinping, whom he has
pushed to pressure North Korea to
halt a nuclear weapons program that
is nearing the capability of targeting
the United States.
Faced with perhaps his biggest
international crisis as president,
Trump has responded with an abun-
dance of swagger and a lot of words.
He’s held a series of freewheeling
press conferences with reporters,
answering complex and delicate
questions apparently off the cuff.
On Friday, he veered from North
Korea to comments on politics. He
even suggested he would consider
military action against Venezuela,
puzzling his military planners.
Trump announced he planned
to hold another press conference in
Washington Monday.
Behind the threats, U.S. offi-
cials insist there has been no new
significant movement of troops,
ships, aircraft or other assets to the
region other than for long scheduled
military exercises with South Korea.
American and South Korean
officials said the exercises would
happen as planned this month. North
Korea claims they’re a rehearsal for
war.
As it is, the U.S. has a robust
military presence in the region,
including six B-1 bombers in Guam
and Air Force fighter jet units in
South Korea, plus other assets
across the Pacific Ocean and in the
skies above. Military options range
from nothing to a full-on conven-
tional assault by air, sea and ground
forces. Any order by the president
could be executed quickly.
BRIEFLY
Trump says he won’t
rule out military
response to Venezuela
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Donald Trump said
Friday that he wouldn’t rule out
military action against Venezuela
in response to the country’s
descent into political chaos
following President Nicolas
Maduro’s power grab.
Speaking to reporters at his
Bedminster, New Jersey, golf
club, Trump bemoaned the
country’s growing humanitarian
crisis and declared that all
options remain on the table —
including a potential military
intervention.
“We have many options for
Venezuela and by the way, I’m
not going to rule out a military
option,” Trump volunteered,
adding, “A military operation
and military option is certainly
something that we could pursue.”
Trump’s comment mark a
serious escalation in rhetoric
for the U.S., which has up until
now stressed a regional approach
that encourages Latin American
allies to escalate pressure on the
Maduro regime. Hours before
Trump’s comments, a senior
administration official speaking
on condition of anonymity
stressed that approach while
briefing reporters on Vice
President Mike Pence’s upcoming
trip to the region later this week.
The Trump administration
has slapped a series of sanctions
against Maduro and more than
two dozen current and former
Venezuelan officials in response
to a crackdown on opposition
leaders and the recent election of
a constitutional assembly charged
with rewriting the country’s
constitution.
Tillerson says diplomats
in Havana suffered
‘health attacks’
HAVANA (AP) — Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson said Friday
that U.S. diplomats in Havana
had been the victims of “health
attacks” that left them with
hearing loss — the most definitive
U.S. statement yet on a series of
mysterious incidents that have
puzzled longtime observers of
U.S.-Cuban relations.
His comments came two days
after the State Department issued
a vaguely worded statement
saying there had been “incidents
which have caused a variety
of physical symptoms.” U.S.
officials later revealed that
American diplomats had suffered
unexplained losses of hearing,
and on Thursday Canada’s
government said at least one
Canadian diplomat in Cuba also
had been treated for hearing loss.
“We hold the Cuban authorities
responsible for finding out who is
carrying out these health attacks
on not just our diplomats but,
as you’ve seen now, there are
other cases with other diplomats
involved,” Tillerson said in
Bedminster, New Jersey, where
President Donald Trump and
members of his administration
spoke to reporters.
In the fall of 2016, a series of
U.S. diplomats began suffering
unexplained losses of hearing,
according to officials with
knowledge of the case. Some of
the diplomats’ symptoms were so
severe that they were forced to
cancel their tours early and return
to the United States, the officials
said.
The officials told The
Associated Press that the hearing
loss appeared to have been caused
by the deliberate use of some sort
of sonic device operating outside
the range of audible sound.
Amateur Danish sub
sinks, inventor held
on murder
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
(AP) — The owner of an amateur-
built submarine was arrested on
suspicion of murder Friday after
his vessel sank off Denmark’s
coast and a journalist who had
joined him for what was supposed
to be a short voyage was reported
missing, Copenhagen police said.
Police said in a statement
Friday night that the man denied
killing the missing woman
and reported dropping her off
on a redeveloped island in
Copenhagen’s harbor about 3 ½
hours into their Thursday night
trip.
The statement did not identify
the submarine’s owner, Peter
Madsen, 46, but the Danish
inventor’s financing of the project
through crowdfunding and first
launch of the UC3 Nautilus in
2008 made headlines.
The 40-ton, nearly 60-foot-long
vessel has been described as the
largest privately built submarine of
its kind.
Before his arrest, Madsen
appeared on Danish television
to discuss the submarine’s
sinking and his rescue. It was the
journalist’s boyfriend who alerted
authorities early Friday that the
sub had not returned from a test
run, police said.
“I am fine, but sad because
Nautilus went down,” Madsen told
Denmark’s TV2 channel, which
aired footage of him getting off
what appeared to be a private boat
and giving a thumbs-up sign.
Madsen said “a minor
problem with a ballast tank” — a
compartment that holds water to
provide stability — “turned into a
major issue” that ultimately caused
the submarine to sink.
“It took about 30 seconds for
Nautilus to sink, and I couldn’t
close any hatches or anything,” he
said. “But I guess that was pretty
good, because I otherwise still
would have been down there.”
Swedish police said later in the
day they were investigating the
whereabouts of a missing woman
who had been on the submarine at
some point.
“Whether the woman was on
board the submarine at the time
of her disappearance is unclear,”
police said in a statement.
The woman was a journalist
writing about Madsen and his
submarine. Swedish and Danish
media reported.
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