Pushing Trump’s button: How Mueller’s investigation could prompt North Korea conflict

Syed Munir Khasru says that the messages coming out of Trump and those near him suggest a strong possibility of armed conflict with North Korea, especially as the investigation into collusion with Russia closes in

US President Donald Trump talks to the media at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on December 24. Trump’s recent message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about the size of his “nuclear button” stirred concern throughout much of the world. Photo: AP
While North Korean leader Kim Jong-un struck a conciliatory note in his new year’s message, speaking of “peaceful resolution” with South Korea, he was steadfast in his belligerent rhetoric toward the US: “The entire United States is within range of our nuclear weapons, a nuclear button is always on my desk.” US President Donald Trump did not lose time responding, tweeting that he also has a nuclear button, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than [Kim’s], and my Button works!”
Even as South Korea responds to the North’s gesture by proposing a meeting on January 9 in Panmunjom, a village in the demilitarised zone that serves as a location for inter-Korean negotiations, one should recall the claims by Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, that there’s a 30 per cent chance that Trump will attack North Korea, rising to 70 per cent if the North conducts another nuclear test. “If nothing changes, Trump’s gonna have to use the military option, because time is running out,” Graham said in December.
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