Joe Biden has lashed out against President Donald Trump’s “non-presidential” war of words with North Korea and warned against attempts to compete with Pyongyang over the size of the two countries' nuclear arsenals.
“This is not a game. This is not about can I puff my chest out bigger than yours. It’s just not presidential,” Biden said.
He was speaking shortly after Trump warned North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un that his nuclear button was "much bigger & more powerful" than Kim’s.
“Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform [Kim] that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” the president tweeted on Tuesday.
In his New Year’s Day address to the nation, Kim Jong-un warned Washington to always keep in mind the fact that “the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office.”
President Trump used his first full work day in 2018 to launch a barrage of tweeted taunts and threats against his foreign and domestic enemies lambasting the media for its “dishonest & corrupt" coverage, threatening to curb US aid to Palestinians and demanding the arrest and jailing of a former Hillary Clinton aide.
Biden has repeatedly criticized Trump’s aggressive rhetoric which he said was “eating at the fabric at this country.”
“It’s totally, thoroughly, completely irresponsible and dangerous,” Biden commented on the president’s remarks.
The results of the December 2017 survey, which put Biden ahead of Trump in the 2020 presidential race, came after the former vice president said that he is "not closing the door," fueling speculation about his possible participation in the next election.
Tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula escalated since the summer after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and several missile tests, with the latest taking place on November 28, when North Korea tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile yet, known as the Hwasong-15, capable of reaching anywhere within the mainland United States.
In September 2017, President Donald Trump threatened to destroy the Asian state, mocking the country's leader as "Little Rocket Man."
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