“North Korea is a problem,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “The problem will be taken care of.”
JUST IN: Trump says "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of". https://t.co/qUerjlvzRB pic.twitter.com/9lbR7yUyIj
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 13, 2017
Which prompted North Korea's rebuke of US President Trump's "aggressive words," overnight.
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One day after the Trump administration demonstratively used the GBU-43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb (MOAB, also known as Mother Of All Bombs) the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal in Afghanistan, in a clear show of force meant to send a signal to North Korea, it released a video of the explosion.
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— CNN (@CNN) April 14, 2017
In a terse response to President Trump's earlier threats and later promises of pre-emptive strikes, North Korea's vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol says it is not his own country but the United States and President Donald Trump who are "making trouble."
With just two days to go until North Korea's "Day of the Sun" celebrations, when as reported yesterday it may conduct its 6th nuclear test at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, NBC reports citing multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials that in the latest stepwise escalation, the U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that Kim Jong-Un's nation North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test.
As the world watches each new North Korean development with bated breath, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing new economic sanctions which could be used in lieu of military force to de-nuclearize the country.
According to Reuters, the sanctions could include a potential oil embargo, intercepting cargo ships headed to North Korea, a ban on the country's airline, Air Koryo, and punishments for Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang.