President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on North Korea has “frankly stepped over the line”, former Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, Newsweek reports.
“It’s given North Korea a reason to say, ‘Hey, we need a bomb, because if we don’t have a bomb, we’re going to not be able to protect ourselves and they’ll come after us,’” Kerry said, addressing Trump’s latest statements on the North Korea crisis.
“What the president needs to do is make sure that he’s no feeding into North Korea’s fear of regime change or of a unilateral attack or otherwise,” Kerry said in an interview with CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
Both Trump and Pyongyang have taken inflammatory verbal shots at each other. Trump on August 8 warned Pyongyang not to stop threats against the U.S. or “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Newsweek adds.
North Korea’s response on October 19 was that the U.S. should expect an “unimaginable strike” at an unexpected time. According to Kerry there is a risk of unintended consequence – “the risk of tweeting yourself or insulting yourself into a position where something happens.”
Kerry also added that the meetings Trump is having in Asia are “extremely important” and that he hopes the president and other countries can have a serious discussion to address North Korea’s concerns about aggression, a regime change and the threat it feels from the U.S., Newsweek adds.
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