President Donald Trump is not authorised to nuke North Korea, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has said.
“Congress has not authorised the use of force, so the president does not have the authority to pre-emptively use force,” said Senator Ben Cardin.
“Now, the president’s commander-in-chief, and when he makes orders obviously the military will follow those orders,” the Maryland Democrat added during an interview with Roll Call. “What we are saying is under no circumstances should we be using nuclear weapons and we should not be looking at a pre-emptive strike.”
“What we should be looking at is a surge in diplomacy,” he said.
Over the past year, tensions between the US and North Korea have intensified as the latter has continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic weapons programme.
Mr Trump has repeatedly taken aggressive tone in his comments about North Korea, saying the US would “totally destroy” the regime if forced to defend itself or its allies. Meanwhile, other US officials have been more measured in their remarks.
Last month, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Mr Trump to use talks to help resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
“Pressure is necessary, but so is dialogue,” Mr Lee said in joint remarks with Mr Trump in the White House Rose Garden. “The US will need to work with others, including China, South Korea and Japan and Russia, to resolve the issue.”
During his first presidential trip to Asia, which began on Friday, Mr Trump is expected to try to persuade Chinese leader Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Korea.
Along with China, Mr Trump will also visit Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines during his tour abroad.
