U.S. President Donald Trump has issued yet another warning to North Korea, saying the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” and prepared to retaliate against Pyongyang if initiates warfare against the U.S.
“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely,” Trump warned in a Friday morning post on Twitter. Trump added: “Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”
The president’s warning comes hours after China said would not assist North Korea if it launches a first strike that threatens U.S. soil and the U.S. retaliates.
The warning from China was published in an editorial Friday in the Global Times, a state-owned newspaper that recommended Beijing remain neutral in the event of a North Korean first strike.
“China should … make clear that if North Korealaunches missiles that threaten U.S. soil first and the U.S. retaliates, China will stay neutral,” said the newspaper, which is not an official voice of China’s Communist Party.
The editorial said, however, China would intervene if the U.S. and ally South Korea collaborate militarily with the intent of ousting Kim Jong Un’s regime.
“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.”
The editorial amounts to a reiteration of China’s position on the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, as it has repeatedly warned the U.S. and Pyongyang to refrain from taking provocative actions.