Trump summons entire Senate for emergency meeting on N. Korea

Trump convenes the entire Senate for an emergency meeting on the crisis with North Korea.  

In a rare move, President Donald Trump has invited the entire US Senate to the White House for an emergency briefing on Wednesday amid the crisis with North Korea and escalating tensions over the country’s missile tests and nuclear program.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the upcoming briefing on Monday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats will provide updates to the 100 lawmakers.

It is rare for the entire Senate to be invited to such a briefing.

Spicer clarified that while the event will take place on the White House campus, it is technically a Senate briefing and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the one who convened it.

On Monday, Trump told ambassadors from United Nations Security Council (UNSC) member countries that they must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korea.

“This is a real threat to the world, whether we want to talk about it or not,” Trump said. “North Korea is a big world problem, and it’s a problem we have to finally solve. People have put blindfolds on for decades, and now it’s time to solve the problem.”

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the US is not seeking a fight with North Korea and would not attack “unless he (North Korean leader Kim Jong-un) gives us reason to do something.”

Asked what would prompt US action, Haley told NBC that “if you see him attack a military base, if you see some sort of intercontinental ballistic missile, then obviously we’re going to do that.”

But asked what if North Korea tests an intercontinental missile or nuclear device, she said: “I think then the president steps in and decides what’s going to happen.”

On Tuesday, North Korea held major live-fire drills in an area around the eastern coastal town of Wonsan as it marked the anniversary of the founding of its military.

The exercise took place as a US guided-missile submarine arrived in South Korea and envoys from the US, Japan and South Korea met in Tokyo to discuss the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles program.

Meanwhile, US commercial satellite images indicated increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site, while the country said that the country’s preparation for and ICBM launch is in its “final stage,” Fox News reported.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.

Missile testsNorth KoreaSenate