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U.S. House leader picks N. Korea, Iran, Russia and IS as four greatest threats

U.S. House leader picks N. Korea, Iran, Russia and IS as four greatest threats

Posted March. 30, 2017 07:06,   

Updated March. 30, 2017 07:12

한국어

The tension between the U.S. and North Korea is reaching its peak. U.S. House leader Paul Ryan on Monday (local time) picked North Korea, Iran, Russia and Islamic State as the biggest threats to U.S. national security at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington. AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobby group in the U.S.

“The IS remains a threat to U.S. Forces in foreign lands and encourages terrorist attacks to its supporters,” Ryan said. “North Korea never stops its tests for nuclear and long-range missiles and displays its hostility and anti-America attitude.”

“It's time to make regime change the explicit aim of U.S. policy,” said Bret Stephens, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal’s foreign affairs, in his column titled “A New Approach to North Korea.” The Wall Street Journal has also suggested, saying, “The policies of tolerance, sanctions and strategic patience of the U.S. in the past two decades failed. U.S. President Donald Trump should ask Chinese President Xi Jinping about what he wants for a regime change in North Korea and have further discussion during his scheduled visit to China next month.”

A string of degrading remarks about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from U.S. lawmakers have met with a strong opposition from Pyongyang. The reclusive nation blamed the U.S., saying, “It is a serious provocation, which can be interpreted as a declaration of war.” “Derogatory and disgraceful words about our leader by Ted Cruz and other hard-liners are the biggest insult to North Korea’s philosophy, system and people. It is a serious provocation, which can be interpreted as a declaration of war,” an official for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in North Korea said on Wednesday in an interview with North Korea’s state media, Korean Central News Agency.

“North Korean dictator Kim killed his step-brother Kim Jong Nam outside North Korea,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz accused Kim of murdering Kim Jong Nam on March 21. Cruz has also recently proposed a bill to put North Korea on a list of terror-sponsor countries. Furthermore, Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Kim a “crazy, fat kid.”



Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com · Hyong-gwon Pu bookum90@donga.com