DONALD Trump, the half-Scottish billionaire President of the United States, and Kim Jong-un, the childlike supreme leader of North Korea, have taken the world one step closer to nuclear war.
Taking to Twitter early in the morning yesterday, Trump who is currently on a 17-day working holiday at his New Jersey golf club, wrote: “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-un will find another path!”
The provocative, come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-you’re-hard-enough tweet from the Commander-in-Chief comes after a week of intensifying brinkmanship between Trump and the East Asian totalitarian regime.
READ MORE: The Slorance Sketch: Can Donald Trump be trusted with the nuclear codes?
Last weekend the UN voted to place strict sanctions on North Korea, who have in the last year accelerated their nuclear weapon programme, and in July, for the first time, test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile which appeared to show the regime could hit Alaska, and possibly San Diego.
A second test launch suggested Pyongyang could hit somewhere between Denver and Chicago, On Tuesday, Trump warned he would respond to threats from the regime with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”.
Jong-un’s military responded by threatening to launch missiles at the tiny, but strategically important US territory of Guam in the West Pacific.
So far, neither country has blinked. Yesterday, Trump shared a post from the United States Pacific Command stating that they were ready to “fight tonight”.
“#USAF B-1B Lancer #bombers on Guam stand ready to fulfill USFK’s #FightTonight mission if called upon to do so,” the original tweet said.
In Guam, the homeland security agency issued a fact sheet for residents on how to deal with a missile attack, nuclear or otherwise.
“Do not look at the flash or fireball — it can blind you,” the fact sheet said.
Other tips include: “Lie flat on the ground and cover your head. If the explosion is some distance away, it could take 30 seconds or more for the blast wave to hit,” and “take cover behind anything that might offer protection.”
The island’s Governor Eddie Calvo told reporters that the 163,000 islanders shouldn’t panic and that Guam remains “safe and sound.”
“There are no changes,” Calvo insisted. “Everyone should continue to live their lives.” But, he added, people should be prepared.
If there is a nuclear attack then the citizens of Guam should avoid going outside for at least 24 hours because of any possible radioactive material.
They should also, if possible, take a shower with lots of soap and water, and shampoo. But they should avoid using conditioner as that will bind to any radioactive material in the hair, the fact sheet states.
Even without nuclear weapons, North Korea has the capacity to attack Seoul and other parts of South Korea. Moscow said the exchange of threats between Washington and Pyongyang “worry us very much”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was no military solution, and “an escalation of the rhetoric is the wrong answer.” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon shared the German leader’s comments, tweeting “Absolutely agree.”
Trump’s Defence Secretary Jim Mattis had earlier attempted to cool tensions by emphasising a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
He said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley were working behind the scenes and that there was “diplomatic traction”.
“It is gaining diplomatic results”.
“The tragedy of war is well enough known. It doesn’t need another characterisation beyond the fact that it would be catastrophic,” he added.
North Korea’s official state KCNA news agency said Washington was guilty of a “criminal attempt to impose nuclear disaster upon the Korean nation”.
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