U. S. or its allies.<\/b>
\nBy MATTHEW PENNINGTON and JONATHAN LEMIRE
NEW YORK \u2014 President Donald Trump said Thursday the U. S. will impose new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons buildup, speaking just days after he threatened to \u201ctotally destroy\u201d the country if forced to defend the U. S. or its allies.
The president placed the threat posed by North Korea at the center of his debut at this week\u2019s U. N. General Assembly, escalating his rhetoric against North Korea amid a monthslong crisis over Kim Jong Un\u2019s expanded missile testing program. National security adviser H. R. McMaster said Thursday the new measures would stop \u201cshort of war.\u201d
Trump was asked during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations about new punishments for the rogue nation and said new sanctions were coming. Details were to be announced later Thursday.
Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News Channel on Thursday: \u201cWe do not desire a military conflict. But the president has made it very clear, as he did at the U. N. this week, that all options are on the table and we are simply not going to tolerate a rogue regime in Pyongyang obtaining usable nuclear weapons that could be mounted on a ballistic missile and threaten the people of the United States or our allies.\u201d
Trump, in his Tuesday address to the U. N., said it was \u201cfar past time\u201d for the world to confront Kim, declaring that the North Korean leader\u2019s pursuit of nuclear weapons poses a threat to \u201cthe entire world with an unthinkable loss of human life.\u201d
\u201cRocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,\u201d Trump said, mocking the North Korean leader even as he sketched out potentially cataclysmic consequences. The president spoke of his own nation\u2019s \u201cpatience,\u201d but said that if \u201cforced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.\u201d
The president was set to meet with and have lunch Thursday in New York with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who represent the nations most imperiled by North Korea\u2019s aggression.
Trump\u2019s overheated language was rare for a U. S. president at the rostrum of the United Nations, but the speech was textbook Trump, dividing the globe into friends and foes and taking unflinching aim at America\u2019s enemies. It drew a sharp rebuke from the North\u2019s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who said \u201cIt would be a dog\u2019s dream if he intended to scare us with the sound of a dog barking.\u201d
Despite Trump\u2019s rhetoric, his administration insists it is seeking a diplomatic resolution. Any military intervention designed to eliminate the North\u2019s nuclear and missile arsenal would almost surely entail dire risks for U. S. allies in the region, particularly South Korea, lying in range of the North\u2019s vast stockpiles of weaponry.
Fears of a military confrontation are increasing. North Korea conducted a series of provocative launches in recent months, including a pair of intercontinental missiles believed capable of striking the continental United States and another pair that soared over Japanese territory. It also exploded its most powerful nuclear bomb to date. Prodded by Washington, the U. N. has responded with the toughest economic sanctions on North Korea yet.
Still, the impasse is no closer to being resolved. Russia and China, which backed the new sanctions, want the U. S. to seek dialogue with the North. American officials say the time isn\u2019t right for any formal diplomatic process.
But other than using economic pressure to try to compel Pyongyang to give away its nuclear weapons \u2014 a strategy that has failed for the past decade \u2014 Trump\u2019s administration has yet to lay out a strategy for a possible negotiated settlement. In recent weeks, the administration\u2019s lack of direction has been all too apparent, as Trump and other top officials have vacillated between bellicose talk of possible military action and, at one point, even praise for Kim for a brief lull in missile tests.
___
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

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