Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened North Korea with a nuclear strike .
He re-echoed his warning that America’s superior capabilities should not be underrated.
His statement was in reaction to Kim Jong Un comments in a live broadcast by North Korea state TV .
“The US should know that the button for nuclear weapons is on my desk. This is not blackmail but reality ,” he said.
“The entire area of the US mainland is within our nuclear strike range .
“The US can never start a war against me and our country. These weapons will be used only if our security is threatened.”
Responding, Trump wrote on Twitter : “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times’ .
“ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
North Korea insists that joint US-South Korean military exercises are preludes to an invasion .
It also described recent round of UN sanctions as an “act of war” , vowing to attack its Asian neighbours and the US territory of Guam.
During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last year, military experts testified that the President’s power to unilaterally launch military strikes nedded review.
“I don’t think that the assurances that I’ve received today will be satisfying to the American people,” Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey said .
“I think they can still realise that Donald Trump can launch nuclear codes just as easily as he can use his Twitter account.”
