President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that North Korea likely does not have the ability to arm a ballistic missile with nuclear warheads. He also compared the Stalinist regime’s recent belligerent rhetoric to a child’s temper tantrum.
NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie asked Obama to clarify whether Pyongyang–which has tested nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles before–could combine the two.
“Based on our current intelligence assessments we do not think that they have that capacity,” the president said. “But we have to make sure that we are dealing with every contingency out there. That’s why I repositioned missile defense systems: to guard against any miscalculation on their part.”
Asked whether North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un is unstable, Obama told NBC: “I’m not a psychiatrist. And I don’t know the leader of North Korea.”
But he described Pyonyang’s escalating rhetoric over the past six weeks as “provocative” and “unnecessary” and vowed not to reward it.
“You don’t get to bang your spoon on the table and somehow you get your way,” the president said.Still, the volatile standoff isn’t over, Obama said.
“All of us would anticipate that North Korea will probably make more provocative moves over the next several weeks,” he said. “But our hope is, is that we can contain it and that we can move into a different phase in which they try to work through diplomatically some of these issues.”
“This is the same kind of pattern that we saw his father engage in, and his grandfather before that," Obama said. “If they want to rejoin the community of nations, that path is available to them."
The interview was conducted Monday, shortly before the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon.
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- To Many To Mention • Report Abuse
The fact that they have nukes is reason enough to keep an eye on that idiot.
46 Replies - Gotcha • Report Abuse
did anyone read the story yesterday about the navy retrieving the upper stage of n.k. rocket/icbm that they used to launch a satellite into orbit.... they said the design was consistent with it being able to carry a nuke!
27 Replies - Hurley • Report Abuse
Didn't the defense department just say a couple of days ago that they COULD?
13 Replies - HTC USN Retired Tom W • Report Abuse
They don't need an ICBM, just sell a nuke to a terrorist group and they will deliver it.
8 Replies - C • Report Abuse
But just yesterday Yahoo! posted a photo of a rocket nose cone and said the defense department claimed they could... Nothing to see here people move along. This does not fit with the current narrative.
8 Replies
We only get to be wrong once with this guy. - Dan • Report Abuse
And going into WWII we thought Japan had only fixed gear, open cockpit, fighters and their pilots all wore thick, google eye, glasses.
1 Reply - Ted • Report Abuse
1941......Our government said 'there is no way Japan can attack the U S " Never say never........
2 Replies - Liberalism Is A Mental Di ... • Report Abuse
Every time I see "NBC" and "news" together I get prepared to listen to the state run
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