Trump threatens the 'total destruction' of North Korea. Silence from Seoul and Tokyo

Veiled criticism of China, Pyongyang's ally. The irony of Chinese newspapers. An attack on North Korea would hit the South, Japan, and the North Asia region.

New York (AsiaNews) - In his first speech yesterday to the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "total destruction" if the US "is forced to defend itself or its allies."

The United States has been threatening Pyongyang with "fire and fury" for rejecting  UN directives on its nuclear program, which threatens South Korea, Japan and even the United States directly.

To what many analysts have called a "hate speech," the most direct allies invoked by Trump remained silent. Observers are surprised by the silence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has so far expressed support for the US,  even in military options. Instead, a spokeswoman for the premier, Motosada Matano, declined to comment.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in's spokeswoman Park Soo-hyun, also avoided commenting on the phrase "total destruction," saying that Trump's speech shows "how seriously the US government is concerned with the problem" of Korea's nuclear program of the North.

Although not explicitly quoted, Trump criticized China, speaking of "some nations" that "not only deal with such a regime," but arm and financially support "a nation that endangers the world with a nuclear conflict."

Chinese newspapers ironized on Trump's speech, labelling it as "the bully pulpit” (Global Times) and "full of sounds and fury" (China Daily).

Cui Zhiying, director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center at Tongji University in Shanghai, said “War is an unimaginable option and it should not be an option at all. It would hurt all parties, everyone on the peninsula and in the Northeast Asia region.”

Andrei Klimov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, told the Interfax news agency “Any military conflict means deaths of civilians. It is especially odd as the US considers South Korea and Japan its allies, and they could be affected in case of a strike.”

• south korea
• north korea
• japan
• china
• russia
• united states of ameirca
• economy
• united nations
• nuclear program
• sanctions
• jae-in moon