Trump says North Korea should be 'very, very nervous'

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 10 August 2017

Speaking Thursday from his New Jersey golf club, President Trump doubled down on his defiant responses to North Korea in light of Pyongyang's escalating nuclear threats. "They can be very, very nervous," Trump said, "and they should be very nervous. Things will happen to them like they never thought possible."

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been trading increasingly aggressive statements this week, after Trump on Tuesday pledged to rain "fire and fury" down on the Hermit Kingdom if its nuclear threats to the U.S. continued. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear weapon, to the point where it could fit inside one of its missiles; recent North Korean missile tests have indicated the country may be able to soon strike the American mainland.

Trump was criticized for his "fire and fury" threat because of the implication that he was threatening Pyongyang with nuclear war, but when a reporter asked Thursday whether his rhetoric was too tough, Trump disagreed. "Maybe it wasn't tough enough," he said. The reporter then asked what would be tougher than "fire and fury," to which Trump replied, "We'll see." He also warned North Korea that they "better get their act together, or they are going to be in trouble like few nations have ever been in trouble."