On Wednesday, barely two days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan, President Trump declared via Twitter that "talking is not the answer!" After America's "25 years" of conversation with North Korea, Trump has apparently decided that diplomatic negotiation is not the right approach:
Trump did not elaborate on what is "the answer" to what he's described as a "grave and growing direct threat."
Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs noted that the Trump administration's official North Korea strategy actually revolves around diplomatic talks and economic pressure. As recently as Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed to continue the "peaceful pressure campaign ... to see if we can bring the regime in Pyongyang to the negotiating table with a view to begin a dialogue."
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After North Korea on Monday launched an intermediate range ballistic missile over over Japan's Hokkaido island and into the Pacific Ocean, Trump declared that "all options are on the table" — except, apparently, conversation.
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