Republican Congressman says the US should preemptively strike North Korea

Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter of California told a San Diego news station on Thursday that he wants the US to launch a preemptive strike on North Korea, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"I assume the North Koreans can reach mainland US with an ICBM with an entry vehicle that has a nuclear bomb in it - they can now nuke the United States," Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told KUSI television. 

"From my perspective, why would I not hit you first? Why would we not do a preemptive strike when you have ICBMs leveled at the US, and you're not a logical player on the world stage?"

"I would preemptively strike them," Hunter added.

"Kim Jong Un needs to realize we're not playing games here, we're not posturing. He needs to think about whether he likes his wine, women and caviar or whether he wants to have the devil blown out of him by the United States," adding that he thinks Kim Jong Un "has some mental issues."

In an address to the UN on Tuesday, President Donald Trump called for more North Korea sanctions, labeled Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man," and said if Pyongyang continues its provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy" the country.

Pyongyang responded on Tuesday by saying that the US would meet its "final ruin" if it chose to defy the North, and on Thursday, Kim said Trump's UN rhetoric was "unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors."

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho also said on Thursday that Kim was considering testing "an unprecedented scale hydrogen bomb" over the Pacific in response Trump's UN speech. 

Trump then tweeted Friday morning that Kim was "obviously a madman" and that he "will be tested like never before." 

"It was great," Hunter told KUSI when asked about his thoughts on Trump's UN speech. "It's great seeing America lead for a change."

Hunter also said, after calling for a preemptive strike, that the US has not shot down the North's previous missile launches, including the one that recently flew over Japan, because "we can tell the trajectory of a missile as soon as it launches."

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