North Korea Threatens ‘Nuclear Thunderbolts’ As The United States And China Team Up

It is well known that North Korea has made multiple threats to launch nuclear weapons, but with their latest threat, it seems that things might have gone to another level, with China and the United States teaming up against them. Recently, the United States sent a bomb into Syria to wipe out chemical weapons that the nation has been warned against using for years. Then yesterday, the United States sent the “mother of all bombs” into Afghanistan to take out an ISIS stronghold after a Green Beret was killed by them.

With North Korea pushing out threats, many feel a Donald Trump-led U.S could very well strike the country if they even consider the idea of sending a nuke toward the United States or an allied nation. This has brought China into play, as they already know the United States has influence in South Korea and stocked the country with weapons to help them against their northern enemy when needed.

China fears the weapons they have and were reportedly spooked when a test went off the other day. China does not want a united, democratic Korea with U.S. influence. This would happen easily if the United States sent a bomb into North Korea. That said, China is trying to stop North Korea’s nuke usage before war breaks out, which could hurt China in the process.

With this in mind, China has essentially teamed up with the United States in order to stop North Korea. Their reasoning might be different, but both countries want the same thing. North Korea is not happy with this, and according to NK News, the country is threatening to send “nuclear thunderbolts” at the very first sign of a preemptive strike from the United States. They also slammed China for cooperating with the U.S.

North Korea is expected to go through with another very controversial nuclear test on Saturday, which is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the regime’s founder. Again, threats out of North Korea have become incredibly common at this point. However, they are never taken lightly because one day Kim Jong-un could decide to pull the trigger. However, they also know the consequences of such an action.

The cooperation between China and United States is pretty new, and the only reason for the alignment is over the nuclear ambitions of North Korea. Two major superpowers in the world teaming up to stop North Korea certainly has not settled well with North Korean leaders.

NK News quoted a North Korean think tank, who claimed, “Currently, with the cooperation of ‘somebody,’ the US is planning to collapse our system, the action that is such a naive and foolish delusion.”

Of course, the “somebody” line refers to China, and this was their way of taking a jab at the country. North Korea and China have been at odds lately, as they recently rejected coal shipments to North Korea, which has hurt the country’s economy. On top of this, according to South China Morning Post, Air China said on Friday that they would suspend direct flights to North Korea. This is a pretty large step for China.

China has agreed to each and every United Nations resolution against North Korea since 2006. However, they remain North Korea’s biggest economic and political backer. That means, without China, North Korea loses out on a lot, and this is not very good for the nation. China is one of the top economies in the world with several things that can help various nations, especially North Korea.

Since President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week and threatened trade retaliation against China if they failed to cooperate on denuclearizing North Korea, it seems China is more willing to act on stopping North Korea more than they have been in the past. This is a huge thing for the United States and a big win for the Trump administration.

President Trump said in a news conference on Wednesday that he told Jinping “the way you’re gonna make a good trade deal is to help us with North Korea. Otherwise, we’re just going to go it alone.” This idea of acting alone meant a lot of things to China, as they do not want to see the United States eventually take out North Korea. They love the buffer the nation provides. Many believe a war is coming between the United States and North Korea despite Chinese interference.

However, not everyone feels the same. Gui Rui, the director of Jilin University’s Institute of Northeast Asian Studies, told the Associated Press that war isn’t likely. He claimed instead of this, if North Korea did carry out their test, they can expect much harsher problems out of China. Rui feels they could single-handedly land a major blow on North Korea by restricting their energy trade, which would accomplish what decades of sanctions of the United Nations have failed to do, which is to destabilize the Kim regime. By doing this, it takes away everything North Korea would want to do.

U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Jinping seem to have gotten along quite well since their meeting in early April.

Trump said about Jinping, “I was very impressed with President Xi. I think he means well and he wants to help, we’ll see if he does.”

Many believe that the United States and China being close is a good thing for both nations on multiple fronts. Having China on the side of the United States allows for the U.S. to stop North Korea, but it could also be an ally if Russia became trouble for the United States later on. China and the United States may only be cooperating due to the North Korean issue, but many would not be surprised if more things come from this as long as the relationship stays positive between both parties.

[Featured Image by Wong Maye-E/AP Images]