On the recordJuly 31, 2018
on North Korea, last night, we received news that North Korea has been continuing work at a missile facility north of its capital. Previous satellite images have shown work ongoing at two other missile sites in the country. Clearly, North Korea is not suspending, let alone winding down, its nuclear missile programs. Yet, shortly after President Trump met with Chairman Kim in Singapore, President Trump said North Korea was ``no longer a nuclear threat'' to the United States. The juxtaposition of President Trump's rhetoric and the facts on the ground are jarring. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. President Trump explains out of nowhere that the nuclear threat is over, and North Korea is building more missiles that reportedly can reach all of the United States instead of just the West Coast. North Korea's nuclear program remains a grave threat to the region and the United States. President Trump can't wish it away. He can't place fantasy next to reality. North Korea will not give up its nuclear program simply because President Trump wants them to. Now, we are all rooting for diplomacy to succeed, but if President Trump is going to make progress toward the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, he needs to grapple with the reality of the situation, not be in a dream world where he thinks his rhetoric is reality, when it doesn't match the dangerous reality on the ground. ____________________
