Trump's 'aggressive' tweets are 'trouble,' says North Korea
Commentary: North Korea's vice foreign minister says that the US president's Twitter habits are dangerous and that the two nations are "on the brink of war."
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Is President Donald Trump too fast with his tweets?
In some near future, history students will examine the first Twitter war.
This won't be a chronology of Kanye West tweets that offended Apple. It will be the tale of an actual war started by tweets.
My confidence in this prediction is only reinforced by an interview that North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Han Song Ryol gave Thursday to the Associated Press.
Han insisted that President Donald Trump's tweets are "aggressive" and that they are "making trouble" in the Korean Peninsula.
It's true that the president tends to be very forceful when he's restricted to 140 characters. Han may, for example, have been referring to a Tuesday tweet in which Trump offered: "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A."
On the same day, there was also a rather mercantile Twitter musing from the president: "I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!"
The US has now moved an aircraft carrier strike group into waters near the Korean Peninsula. Overnight, Han told CBS News that North Korea and the US are on the "brink of war."
"If the U.S. comes up with a dangerous military option, then the first card is in our hands. We'll deal with it with our pre-emptive strike. This means war," Han told CBS News, adding that North Korea would "of course" use nuclear weapons.
Separately, Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe expressed concern Thursday that North Korean potentate Kim Jong Un could launch missiles laced with sarin nerve gas.
Of course, much or even all of this saber-rattling could just be posturing. Twitter does tend to be a highly posturing medium.
How sad it would be if a few words tossed off at the crack of dawn on a phone could lead to actual war. Then again, the president has used Twitter this week in a more positive way.
Why, only on Thursday he tweeted that the US and Russia will end up as BFFs. Perhaps, too, there will soon be a round of golf with Kim.
Still, the president had better bring his A-game. Kim's dad, Kim Jong Il, apparently once shot a 38-under par round of 34. Yes, for 18 holes. It could be that he's passed this skill onto his son.
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