It's not surprising that North Korea appears to be rebuilding key nuclear missile facilities after talks collapsed between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, Sen. Mike Rounds said Wednesday.
"I think the president was correct to walk away if he didn't feel that we were getting a good deal," the South Dakota Republican, a member of the Armed Services Committee, told CNN's "New Day." "But when that occurs, then North Korea's going to do something."
North Korea, by restoring the site, is trying to send a message that "they're for real" and if the United States won't capitulate to its demands, then it will continue with nuclear developments, said Rounds.
Rounds said he also still considers North Korea to be a threat, disagreeing with Trump, who tweeted after his first summit with Kim in Singapore that North Korea no longer poses danger.
"We keep our eye on them and identify them as one of the four major challengers in the world today," said Rounds, also listing Russia, China, and Iran. Kim, he added, wants North Korea recognized as a world power, and wants to keep nuclear capability as a threat to other countries.
The United States may also have to push China into "siding with us a little bit more," said Rounds. "It's tough to do when you're in the middle of trade talks and tough negotiations like we are with China and their theft of our intellectual properties right now."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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