On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump again issued a tough warning to North Korea, threatening that the United States military is "Locked And Loaded" if the reclusive state carries out the unwise act. This comes after both sides exchanged threats and escalating tension.
The U.S. and South Korea said they would be conducting a large-scale military war game later in the month of August that Pyongyang claims is a war rehearsal. The communist state has mapped out plans to launch ballistic missiles toward the Pacific island of Guam which is a U.S. territory.
Trump escalates threat
Trump said on Friday via Twitter that "military solutions are now fully ready, locked and loaded, should Pyongyang act unwisely."
President Trump’s provocative public utterances differ from the careful words of his predecessors.
He appears to be growing louder by the day. His rhetoric included the fierce "fire and fury threat" – which he later described as too timid and evoked a nuclear explosion. World leaders are rattled by the nuclear war rhetoric.
World leaders react
German Chancellor Angel Merkel -- reacting to the heated exchanges from both sides -- said it is not a military solution and it’s uncalled for. However, she declined to respond in terms of whether her country would stand with the United States in the event of a military confrontation.
Instead, she called on the United Nations Security Council to continue its efforts to resolve the issue.
Merkel added that escalating the rhetoric is totally wrong and not helpful. Sergey Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, said Moscow was deeply worried about the situation.
He added that the risk of a military conflict between the United States and North Korea is too expensive and very high.
Lavrov further stated that when getting close to the point of a conflict, the one who is wiser and stronger should always be the first to step back a little from the brink.
Despite the escalated tensions and the war threats from both sides, the streets of Pyongyang remain calm as people go about their normal businesses, unlike previous crises where air drills and cars in camouflage moving around the city.
Barely two days after Pyongyang mapped out plans to launch an attack close to Guam, there was no reported March toward combat and no major deployment of U.S. military assets to the Korean Peninsula, and there were no signs that North Korea was massively preparing for confrontation.
