Trump: Fire and fury threat against N. Korea wasn't tough enough
Trump reaffirmed his threats against the regime of Kim Jong-un in remarks to reporters before a security meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Cabinet chief John Kelly.
On Tuesday, Trump had said that if North Korea continued its provocations it would face "fire and fury like the world has never seen," a comment that prompted Pyongyang to threaten to attack the island of Guam, a US territory where Washington maintains an important naval base.
Trump maintained his hardline stance on Thursday, saying that if North Korea launched an attack, "Things will happen to them that they never thought possible."
Nevertheless, the president left the door open to diplomacy, but he also said that for 25 years attempts at dialogue with Pyongyang's communist regime had failed and "It's about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country."
With Pence at his side, before going into the meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, where he is on an extended vacation, Trump said that he is supported "100 percent by our military" and by other world leaders.
Trump expressed thanks to China and Russia, traditional allies of Pyongyang, for voting last weekend in favor of new sanctions in the UN Security Council in response to the two most recent North Korean ICBM tests in July.
The president said he did not want to comment on the possibility that Washington could stage a preemptive strike on North Korea, which on Thursday said it was finalizing plans to launch two medium-range missiles into the exclusive economic zone off the coast of Guam.