A group of 64 Democrats cautioned against “unimaginable conflict” with North Korea.
A group of 64 Democrats on Tuesday warned President Trump that he would need congressional approval for any pre-emptive military strike on North Korea.
“Few decisions are more needing of debate than a move to launch attacks, or declare war, on a nuclear-armed state such as North Korea, ” reads a letter from the group, according to The New York Times. “In such a volatile region, an inconsistent or unpredictable policy runs the risk of unimaginable conflict.
“We respectfully request more information about the steps your administration is taking to advance the prospects or direct negotiations that could lower the potential for catastrophic war and ultimately lead to the denuclearization of the peninsula.”
“ [They] ultimately determined there was no military option that would not run the unacceptable risk of counterreaction from Pyongyang.”
The Times reported that Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) , the last Democrat in Congress to serve in the Korean War, led efforts to draft the letter.
Aides to Conyers told the Times that the 64 signatures on the letter symbolized the 64 years since an armistice was signed in 1953.
The Associated Press on Monday reported that North Korea is threatening to begin mass producing a new missile that can reach Japan and major U. S. military bases.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly “approved the deployment of this weapon system for action” and said it should “be rapidly mass-produced.”
On Sunday, North Korea launched a medium-range ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan, according to U. S. officials.
