A former US Senate foreign policy adviser says there’s a “real worry of a war between the United States and North Korea,” and the entire world should be worried about it.
James Jatras made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on US President Donald Trump’s recent inflammatory rhetoric North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“Following President Trump’s speech at the United Nations, it seems that the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington has escalated. And, there are no signs that there is any genuine diplomacy going on or efforts to deescalate this crisis,” Jatras said.
“I think there’s a very real worry of a war between the United States and North Korea, that the generals around President Trump really do believe there is an acceptable military solution to this crisis even if risks the lives of not only tens of thousands of American personnel on the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) but hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Koreans,” he stated.
“The worst thing in the world is if there is something going on behind the scene but there is no indication of any desire on the part of the American administration to take a step back from this brinkmanship,” the analyst noted.
“This is something that the whole world should be worried about,” Jatras said in his concluding remarks.
In a speech on Friday evening, Trump said Kim “should have been handled a long time ago,” but “I'm going to handle” him now anyway, calling him a “mad man" and "little rocket man."
"We can't have mad men out there shooting rockets all over the place," he added.
Earlier on Friday, Trump said that Kim "will be tested like never before," as the two leaders continue trading insults and Pyongyang threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
Trump's latest insult came one day after he imposed additional sanctions on Pyongyang.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump warned Kim that the United States, if threatened, would “totally destroy” his country of 26 million people.
In response, Kim said Trump will “pay dearly” for threatening to destroy North Korea.
Kim said that Trump is "a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire," who is "unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country."
On Thursday, Kim described the US president as "mentally deranged" and warning he would "pay dearly" for threatening to destroy his country.