Former CIA operations officer Lon Augustenborg warned Sunday the United States is “running out of options quickly” on North Korea.
In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on AM970, Augustenborg, a geo-political risk consultant who headed the CIA’s Clandestine Service, said President Donald Trump’s war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “just ups the ante and increases the hostility.”
"We are running out of options quickly,” he said. “And the president, while I certainly understand his speech at the UN, the personal attacks, especially when you're going after someone like the Korean leadership, and with their culture … to save face, it just ups the ante and increases the hostility, and we already have limited options.”
He said China is key in the crisis — and the United States has to “put more pressure on” Beijing, “even if it means not paying our debts to them.”
"The Chinese really have to cut everything off,” he said, adding: "Deep down, China feels the U.S. is their number one threat, not North Korea, and I think we have to reverse that for them or change their perspective.”
"Advise the Chinese that if they don't force North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons, we would not object to arming Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines [with nuclear weapons]," he said.
Trump ramped up his rhetoric the against North Korea again this weekend, warning the country's foreign minister that he and Kim won't be around much longer.”
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