German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday split with President Trump on his tough rhetoric against North Korea, and said she believes such talk is the “wrong answer.”
“I think escalating the rhetoric is the wrong answer,” Merkel said Friday, according to the Associated Press.
After it was reported Tuesday that an assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded North Korea successfully miniaturized a nuclear weapon to put on a ballistic missile, Trump said Pyongyang would see “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if the rogue regime continued to provoke the U.S.
The president reiterated his statement later by saying his “fire and fury” warning may not have been “tough enough.” On Friday morning, Trump warned the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” if North Korea launched missiles toward Guam, as the rogue regime threatened to do earlier this week.
When asked about Trump’s recent statements on North Korea, Merkel wouldn’t say whether Germany would stand alongside the U.S. if there was a military conflict with Pyongyang.
“I don’t see a military solution, and I don’t think it’s called for,” Merkel said.
Instead, the German chancellor said the U.N. Security Council should address the threat escalations from North Korea and said Germany would continue working toward diplomatic solutions with others involved, including the U.S., China, and South Korea.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution Saturday imposing sanctions on North Korea.
