North Korea released two propaganda films in quick succession on Thursday and Friday, one showing a nuclear explosion destroying the U.S. Capitol and another depicting a successful missile launch. These came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s ominous declaration that a “major, major conflict” with the rogue regime is possible.
“There’s a lot of disturbing, brand new, anti-American propaganda spewing from North Korea,” reported Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins early Friday morning.
Jenkins reported on a new video released early Friday, “showing what appears to be an arsenal of missiles being launched from North Korean beaches, striking targets unknown: aggressive military drills and a powerful show of force as a gleeful Kim Jong Un approvingly watches on.”
But that followed another chilling video which featured “the rogue regime depicting a mock attack on Washington, the White House being destroyed, [and] the video declares ‘The enemy to be destroyed is in our sights,'” Jenkins reported. While Jenkins said the video showed the White House, the footage actually shows the U.S. Capitol.
Here is the chilling closing image of the video, showing an American flag in flames with a Korean declaration of victory.
YouTube screenshot from North Korea propaganda video.
These videos come with new remarks from President Trump that a “major, major conflict” with the rogue regime is possible, and similar warnings from the Chinese foreign ministry.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” Trump told Reuters in an interview. The president added that he wanted to resolve the crisis peacefully, possibly through new economic sanctions, but added that a military option was not off the table.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that the Korean crisis could escalate or slip out of control. According to China’s foreign ministry, Wang made the comments in a meeting with a Russian diplomat on Thursday at the United Nations.
Also on Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China had asked North Korea not to conduct any more nuclear tests, warning the rogue state that China would impose unilateral sanctions if North Korea went ahead with the tests.
“We were told by the Chinese that they informed the regime that if they did conduct further nuclear tests, China would be taking sanctions actions on their own,” Tillerson told Fox News. He did not specify when China made the threat, however.
Beijing did ban imports of North Korean coal in February, cutting off the rogue regime’s most important export. Chinese media this month raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to Pyongyang if it did not cease its provocations.
In a further show of force, President Trump is sending the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula, where it will join the USS Michigan, a nuclear submarine which docked in South Korea on Tuesday. South Korea’s navy announced it will hold drills with the U.S. group.
Admiral Harry Harris, the top U.S commander in the Pacific, said the carrier was within 2 hours striking distance of North Korea if need be. He also added that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD missile defense system, would be operational in the coming days.
While Beijing has complained that THAAD’s radar can see deep into China, and South Korea is refusing to foot the $1 billion bill that Trump wants them to pay for the defense system, THAAD could be a powerful game-changer in the region, enabling the defense of South Korea, Japan, or even U.S. holdings in the case of North Korea launching a nuclear ballistic missile.
Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the U.S. with a missile. According to Reuters, experts said Pyongyang could have this capability some time after 2020, but the class of ballistic missile tested by North Korea would be able to reach California. Due to test failures, however, it is unlikely Pyongyang would be able to strike any target that far afield with any degree of accuracy.
The rogue regime has conducted five nuclear tests and numerous missile tests, including one this month, a day before the meeting between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.
When asked if he considered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be rational, President Trump said, “I have no opinion on it. I hope he’s rational.”
These videos might suggest otherwise.
Click “Load More” to see the propaganda video showing the White House being destroyed.
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