President Donald Trump
on Thursday again refused to rule out U.S. military action in North
Korea, telling reporters that the nuclear-armed dictatorship has been
"behaving very badly, and it's got to stop."
"I would prefer not going the
route of the military, but it's something certainly that could happen,"
the president said at a White House press conference with the visiting
Emir of Kuwait.
Lauding the recent U.S. military
buildup in and around the Korean peninsula, Trump said, "Hopefully
we're not going to have to use [military force]. But if we do, it will
be a very sad day for North Korea."
U.S. markets did not immediately
respond to Trump's latest comments, which were more tempered than some
of his recent tweets on the issue.
The comments came just days
after North Korea appeared to have tested a hydrogen bomb, sparking
renewed fears around the world of what the hermit kingdom might do with
such a weapon.
At the time, Trump tweeted a warning to North Korea:
Asked on Thursday whether the United States could tolerate a situation
where North Korea retained its nuclear weapons, but was otherwise
contained, the president declined to answer: "I don't put my
negotiations on the table," he said.
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