The Final Call

‘Situation Between U.S. And North Korea Reaches Dangerous Level’

By PressTV.com | Last updated: Oct 3, 2017 - 12:18:31 AM

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The situation between the United States and North Korea has reached a very dangerous level and Washington must take an initiative to lessen the tensions, an American writer and retired professor says.

James Petras, who has written dozens of books on international issues, made the comments in an interview with Press TV on Sept. 22 while commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent inflammatory statements about North Korea.

Mr. Trump said on Sept. 22 morning that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “will be tested like never before, as the two leaders continue trading insults and Pyongyang threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

“Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before,” Mr. Trump tweeted.

Mr. Trump’s latest insult came one day after he imposed additional sanctions on Pyongyang.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 19, Trump warned Kim that the United States, if threatened, would “totally destroy” his country of 26 million people.

In response, Kim said Trump will “pay dearly” for threatening to destroy North Korea.

Mr. Kim said that Mr. Trump is “a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire,” who is “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country.”

Professor Petras said, “The situation between the United States and North Korea has reached very dangerous levels of exchanges, verbal exchanges, economic sanctions, military exercises by the U.S. of the North Korean frontiers.”

“North Korea has retaliated by escalating its nuclear testing including a possibility of a hydrogen bomb. I think the world is confronted with two maniacs,” he opined.

“I think the maniac in Washington has provoked great consternation among its allies. North Korea has created problems with its allies. I think this is a situation which requires calm voices and return from military posturing to negotiations,” the analyst noted.

“And I think the initiative stand with the United States and South Korea to lessen the tensions by opening up a channel for a negotiation process. Up to now Washington has rejected the possibility of negotiations and reaching a mutually acceptable agreement,” Mr. Petras concluded.

The North Korean leader ordered the production of more rocket warheads and engines last month, shortly after the United States suggested that its threats of military action and sanctions were having an impact on Pyongyang’s behavior.

Pyongyang says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward the country and dissolves the U.S.-led UN command in South Korea. Thousands of U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan. (PressTV.com)