A Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sunday broke with the White House over North Korea’s recent missile launches after President Trump tweeted he wasn’t “disturbed” by the latest provocation by leader Kim Jong Un.
“I find them very disturbing, and certainly wouldn’t trust Kim Jong Un,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think we need to keep our eyes on North Korea, I understand the president wants to maintain a relationship with North Korea so that we can work with them. However, those strikes are disturbing.”
Her comments come after Trump — tweeting from Japan, where’s he’s on a state visit — said Kim’s regime “fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me.”
Ernst said Japan, which is within striking distance, should find the firings troublesome.
“I think Japan does have reason to be concerned, and I am concerned as well,” she said. “We need to see North Korea back off of those activities, and we need to take a very strong stance on that.”
But White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the missile firings aren’t “bothering” the president even though Japan and Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, believe North Korea has violated United Nations resolutions calling for a halt to such testing.
“Look, the president’s focus in all of this process is on continuing the very good relationship that he has with Chairman Kim,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And he feels good that the chairman will stay firm with the commitment that he made to the president and move towards denuclearization.”
Ernst said she understands Trump wanting to foster his relationship with Kim and continue negotiations, but she suggested the president should “push back” harder to prevent North Korea from violating UN guidelines.
“We can’t continue to let them further develop any type of weapons systems,” she said.