Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) Photo courtesy of US House of Representatives
North Korea is threatening to unleash four missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam within days. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threats to wage “fire and fury” on North Korea after receiving criticism that his aggressive rhetoric might fuel tensions. Mid-Missouri Republican Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer tells Moberly radio station KWIX that he expects the U.S.’s missile defense program to come into play.
“I think you’ll see the next thing that we do is to try to shoot one of them out of the air to show them (North Korea) that we’re ready for them,” says Luetkemeyer.
“We’ll see what happens, but it is a very, very difficult situation that continues to escalate and actually disintegrate every day.”
The U.S. is working on its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, otherwise known as THAAD. The missile defense program is meant to shoot down shorter range missiles. North Korea has been building a missile that is said to have the capability of reaching Alaska and some western states.
“I’m guessing here, but I think you can probably sort of see the handwriting on the wall that some of the missiles that were misfired earlier by the North Koreans probably had some sort of activity by our own people to try and impede their (North Korea’s) ability to operate,” says Luetkemeyer.
Critics say the best way to handle North Korea involves diplomacy. They also say missile defense is too expensive to be America’s primary strategy.
Bob Ehle of KWIX contributed to this story.
