President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that Americans are “probably not safe” from the North Korean nuclear threat.
“Nobody’s safe,” Trump told Fox News, “I mean, who’s safe? The guy’s got nuclear weapons … We’re probably not safe over here. If [Kim Jong Un] gets the long-range missiles, we’re not safe either.”
North Korea has launched nine ballistic missiles this year. Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s address that North Korea is close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the North has yet to demonstrate this ability.
During a recent military parade, North Korea presented several solid-fuel ICBM mock-ups. While the North regularly threatens to strike the U.S. with its “treasured nuclear sword,” most experts agree that North Korea does not have a suitable long-range weapon capable of delivering a nuclear device to the continental U.S. North Korea is widely believed to pose a real and serious threat to South Korea and Japan.
Trump has said that “major” conflict with North Korea is a real possibility.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump told Reuters at the White House last week. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult.”
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Trump indicated that he would be willing to meet with Kim Jong Un if the circumstances were right. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump said.
Send tips to ryan@
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.