'Policy didn't work!': Trump tweets of North Korea after hinting at war
"Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didn't work!" tweeted Trump.
Trump's tweet echoes a sentiment he expressed over the weekend that "only one thing will work" to solve the North Korea crisis.
Trump's statement was ambiguous at the time.
But Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, later confirmed the obvious in an interview with NBC: Trump is "clearly telegraphing" military action against North Korea.
On Friday evening, during an impromptu dinner with senior military officials at the White House, Trump suggested the meeting may represent "the calm before the storm." He took no questions on his meaning at that time.
Later in the Oval Office, Trump was again asked about his "calm before the storm comment," and replied with a wink.
"You'll find out," Trump said after his wink. "We'll see."
Factually, Trump's tweet rings true. The US has attempted to sway North Korea from building nuclear arms since 1992, and have given the country over a billion dollars in aide since then, even during tense periods.
While the US and other parties did at times get North Korea to agree to talks and preliminary frameworks for disarmament, no agreement held.
Sanctions and diplomacy have at best slowed North Korea's nuclear weapons progress, and today the world faces a rogue regime on the cusp of marrying a thermonuclear bomb to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The speed of North Korea's nuclear breakout has surprised experts and academics within and without the US government.
No previous US president has had to respond to such a grave threat from North Korea, and no previous president has taken up such fiery rhetoric against Pyongyang.
As of the latest media reports, movements, and statements from the US military, a strike on North Korea does not appear imminent.