White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is dismissing North Korea’s assertion that President Trump’s comments at the United Nations last week and additional tweets amount to a “declaration of war.”
“We’ve not declared war on North Korea,” Sanders said during Monday’s White House press briefing. “Frankly, the suggestion of that is absurd.”
On Monday, North Korea threatened to shoot down U.S. bombers flying near North Korea as a response to the president’s remarks at the United Nations last week.
During Trump’s address at the U.N. last week, he called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man” and threatened to “totally destroy” the country if the U.S. or its allies are in danger.
Over the weekend, the president said on Twitter that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and Kim “won’t be around much longer” if Ri “echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man.”
Ri told reporters Monday the president’s comments and subsequent tweets were a declaration of war.
“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make counter measures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” Ri said. “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
When asked about Ri’s comments, Sanders told reporters the Trump administration’s goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged despite the rogue regime’s threats.
“It’s never appropriate for a country to shoot down another country’s aircraft when it’s over international waters,” Sanders said. “Our goal is still the same. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That’s our focus, doing that through the most maximum economic and diplomatic pressures as possible at this point.”
This weekend, U.S. B-1B bombers and F-15 fighters flew over international waters off North Korea’s coast, marking the farthest north that U.S. aircraft have flown over the demilitarized zone this century.
