Trump accuses N. Korea's Kim of making 'big mistake': Yonhap

By Park Sae-jin Posted : April 13, 2017, 08:01 Updated : April 13, 2017, 08:01

[EPA/Yonhap News Photo]


US President Donald Trump said in an interview aired Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "making a big mistake," warning that he doesn't talk about military action plans in advance unlike his predecessor.

"We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you. And we have the best military people on Earth," Trump said in the interview with Fox Business. "And I will say this. He is doing the wrong thing ... He's making a big mistake," he said.

"I'm not like Obama," Trump said, criticizing his predecessor for announcing his plans to strike the Iraqi city of Mosul in the fight against the militant group Islamic State so as to give adversaries enough time to get prepared for the strikes.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been running high amid speculation that North Korea may conduct its sixth nuclear test or carry out a threatened test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. around its key anniversaries in April. The US has sent an aircraft carrier strike group led by USS Carl Vinson toward the Korean Peninsula, rather than executing previously planned port visits to Australia, in a show of force designed to warn the North against additional provocations.

Trump said he had extensive talks about North Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week. "The first thing I brought up was North Korea. I said, 'You've got to help us with North Korea, because we can't allow it. And it's not good for you. And you have a tremendous power because of trade,'" Trump said, referring to last week's talks with Xi in Florida.

"Now, he then explains thousands of years of history with Korea. Not that easy. In other words, not as simple as people would think. They've had tremendous conflict with Korea over the years. Now, his father was in China four times. He was never in China," he said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his late father, Kim Jong-il.

Trump said he again pressed Xi to use trade with the North as leverage. "I said, 'Look, you have a tremendous power because of trading through the border.' If they don't get food, they don't get, you know, they can't sell their coal. In fact, I hear today two massive coal ships from North Korea were sent back to North Korea, heading to China. They were sent back, which is a very good sign," he said.

(Yonhap)

 
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기