President Donald Trump ventured into North Korean territory with his vow to respond to threats from the isolated dictatorship with “fire and fury” unparalleled in history.
Trump’s remarks seemingly implying a nuclear strike came Tuesday as a report revealed U.S. intelligence believes North Korea has produced a nuclear warhead that can fit inside a missile. Such a move would be a key step toward Kim Jong Un’s regime being able to launch a strike on the United States or its allies.
“North Korea had best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Trump said during a briefing at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
If the rhetoric sounded similar to North Korean pronouncements, it was. Here is a look at some past comments by Pyongyang:
- July 2016: North Korea says it will turn Seoul into a “sea of fire” and take other, unspecified action in response to a U.S. decision on where to locate its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea.
- March 2013: A North Korean army general tells a Pyongyang rally that the military is ready to fire a long-range nuclear-armed missile to turn Washington into a “sea of fire.”
- June 2012: North Korea’s military warns that troops have aimed artillery at seven South Korean media groups. It threatens a “merciless sacred war.”
- April 2012: North Korea holds a massive rally denouncing conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a “rat.” It says he should be struck with a “retaliatory bolt of lightning” because of his confrontational approach toward Pyongyang.
- May 2010: After a Seoul-led international investigation blames a North Korean torpedo for the sinking of a South Korea warship that killed 46 sailors, Pyongyang issues a denial and warns of a “prompt physical strike.” In November 2010, the North attacks a front-line island, killing four South Koreans.
WATCH: Coverage of North Korean missile program on Globalnews.ca