State Department says Trump, his administration on same page on North Korea

“Some of you may disagree with this, but the United States is on the same page. Whether it’s the White House, the State Department, the Department of Defence, we are speaking with one voice.

“And the world is, in fact, speaking with one voice, and we saw that as it came out of the UN Security Council with the resolution that passed less than a week ago,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters on Wednesday.

Tensions have escalated with North Korea over the last several days. On Tuesday, President Trump reacted to reports that North Korea had produced a compact nuclear warhead by warning the country that it would face consequences if it threatened the United States.

Ms. Nauert said America along with other nations condemned Pyongyang’s “destabilising activities”.

“They’ve continued to take part in that, two ICBM launches in less than a month. The world remains very concerned about that,” she added.

The ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) has increased the reach of North Korean projectiles to the American mainland.

Ms. Nauert said that the US-led international pressure campaign on North Korea is working very well and yielding results, which was reflected in the unanimous sanctions passed by the United Nations Security Council on Pyongyang.

“We see that the pressure campaign, which is a long-term campaign, but that campaign is working. It is ratcheting up the pressure on North Korea,” she said.

The state department spokesperson defended Mr. Trump’s remarks that the North Korean threat to the US will be met with “fire and fury”.

“Look, the president is sending a strong message to North Korea in the kind of language that North Korea understands.

The secretary (of state) has talked in the past about how the president is a very effective spokesman.

“People listen to him, and those were the President’s words, sending a message loud and clear to North Korea,” she said.

There are lots of ways, we believe, to get through to Kim Jong-un and his regime. And our issue is not with the people of the DPRK, it is with the regime itself, she added.

Ms. Nauert said the international community is in agreement with the United States and many of its partners and allies are in favour of putting additional pressure on North Korea.

“The secretary happens to be coming back from the ASEAN conference, where they had tremendous success. It was a good week for diplomacy. We are all singing from the same hymn book,” she said.