Donald Trump: China Needs To Make North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un 'Disappear'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Donald Trump believes China needs to remove Kim Jong Un from power.
Speaking to "CBS This Morning," the Republican presidential hopeful -- fresh off his New Hampshire primary win -- explained that the Chinese need to make the North Korean ruler "disappear."
"I would get China to make that guy disappear, in one form or another, very quickly," Trump said.
When Trump was asked if that meant assassinating the leader, the billionaire shrugged.
"I've heard of worse things, frankly. This guy's a bad dude, and don't underestimate him," he told "CBS This Morning." "Any young guy that can take over from his father, with all those generals ... that probably want that position, this is not somebody to be underestimating."
Trump stated that he would force China to deal with North Korea "economically."
"China has absolute control of North Korea, they won't say it, but they do. And they should make that problem disappear," Trump said. "China is sucking us dry. They're taking our money, they're taking our jobs, they're doing so much. We have rebuilt China with what they've taken out. We have power over China. China should do that."
Trump added that the United States needs to use its power and influence over the Chinese government.
"I would say, 'You gotta do it. You gotta do it,'" he told "CBS This Morning," and if China refused, he would "do it a little more forcefully."
North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch, which came about a month after the country's fourth nuclear test, was quickly condemned by world leaders as a potential threat to regional and global security.
Washington, Seoul and others consider the launch a banned test of missile technology. That assessment is based on Pyongyang's efforts to manufacture nuclear-tipped missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland and that the technology used to launch a rocket carrying a satellite into space can be applied to fire a long-range missile.
In the annual assessment of global threats delivered to Congress on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months.
Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020.
Clapper said that Pyongyang has not flight-tested a long-range, nuclear-armed missile but is committed to its development.
Underscoring the difficulty of understanding North Korea's actual intentions, Clapper said the U.S. does not know whether North Korea would use nuclear weapons for defensive or retaliatory purposes.
But Clapper said U.S. intelligence has determined Pyongyang does want nuclear capabilities for purposes of deterrence, international prestige, and coercive diplomacy.
North Korea already faces wide-ranging sanctions from the United States and under existing U.N. resolutions is prohibited from trading in weapons and importing luxury goods.
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