On the recordMay 2, 2017
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New York. I just returned from a trip to South Korea and Japan, a bipartisan trip, where we focused on the dangers of North Korea. First, I want to just say what became very clear to us is how important our relationship is with South Korea and Japan, both economically and for our national security. We sat in roundtable discussions with scholars, ambassadors, and military leaders from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China; and I will tell you one thing was unanimous in the thinking: a preemptive military strike right now on our part would be catastrophic--catastrophic not only to our friends in South Korea, the millions who live there, our friends in Japan, but the hundreds of thousands of American citizens and our military personnel. I thank our chairman and our ranking member for their good work, and I urge my colleagues to support this good bill.





