North Korea is 'fully prepared to handle' a preemptive U.S. strike, top official says

North Korean Vice Minister Han Song Ryol
(Image credit: The Associated Press)

North Korea is prepared to preempt any "reckless" military intervention from the United States under the "more vicious and more aggressive" President Trump, Vice Minister Han Song Ryol told The Associated Press in an interview published Friday.

"We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. preemptive strike," Han said. "Whatever comes from the U.S., we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.