Trump's North Korea Tweets End With China Slam

The experts Reuters spoke with described it as feasible, but Donald Trump wasn't among that cohort: In a Monday night tweet, the president-elect addressed Kim Jong Un's Jan. 1 assertion that North Korea is nearly ready to test an intercontinental ballistic missile: "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US. It won't happen!" The Washington Post notes that Trump has provided no other details on how a Trump administration might prevent such a thing from happening, though Reuters quotes a rep for South Korea's foreign ministry who says "because of our active outreach" Trump understands the severity of the North Korean nuclear threat and won't budge on the current policy of sanctions.

Another thing Trump doesn't seem to be budging on: his needling of China. In a second tweet on the topic of North Korea, Trump wrote, "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!" China's official reply is that its "responsible attitude" regarding a denuclearized North Korea is apparent and evidenced in the resolutions it has passed with other members of the UN Security Council. The state-run tabloid Global Times suggested Trump was the one with a responsibility issue, writing that he is "pandering to 'irresponsible' attitudes," per the AP. NBC News points out that Defense Secretary Ash Carter in September said China bore responsibility for Pyongyang's nuclear progress.