--- description: President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize North Korea during a moment of heightened tensions between the two countries title: President Trump Is Blaming North Korea for 'Behaving Very Badly' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe8fb8ac768ca64b/6988bed186f68e5a696e3e19/donald-trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Is Blaming North Korea for 'Behaving Very Badly'  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2017 2:53 PM CUT  U.S. President Donald J. Trump speaks during the Friends of Ireland Luncheon at the U.S Capitol in Washington, DC on March 16, 2017. U.S. President Donald J. Trump speaks during the Friends of Ireland Luncheon at the U.S Capitol in Washington, DC on March 16, 2017.Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2017 2:53 PM CUT President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4696428/donald-trump-war-state-government/ "undefined") took to Twitter on Friday morning to criticize [North Korea](http://time.com/4704969/rex-tillerson-north-korea-action/ "undefined") during a moment of heightened tensions between the two countries, accusing the hermit kingdom and nuclear power of “playing” the United States. “North Korea is behaving very badly,” he said. “They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help! The tweet comes just after [Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/asia/rex-tillerson-north-korea-nuclear.html "undefined")said in Seoul that the U.S. would not return to the bargaining table to dissuade North Korea’s nuclear buildup, but would consider pre-emptive military intervention as an option. When asked if the U.S. would consider military action to stop North Korea’s nuclear development, Tillerson said “we do not want to, for things to get to military conflict,” [but added that ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39297031 "undefined")“if they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, then that option’s on the table.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/842724011234791424) “The policy of strategic patience has ended,” Tillerson said, signaling an end to the Obama Aministration’s strategy of increasing sanctions and covert action in the hopes of dissuading North Korea from further nuclear development. North Korea has conducted nuclear and missile tests, and has publicly boasted that it intends to develop a nuclear-armed ballistic missile that can reach the continental U.S. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced on [New Year’s Day ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/world/asia/north-korea-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-test-kim-jong-un.html "undefined")that the country was preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, and [experts say](http://time.com/4694840/north-korea-nuclear-missile-america/ "undefined") the country’s nuclear program is four to five years away from fully achieving that goal. Tillerson is expected to travel to China on Saturday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4705140/donald-trump-twitter-north-korea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4705140/donald-trump-twitter-north-korea/"},"headline":"President Trump Is Blaming North Korea for 'Behaving Very Badly'","datePublished":"2017-03-17T14:53:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:54:15.283Z","description":"\"China has done little to help!\"","url":"https://time.com/4705140/donald-trump-twitter-north-korea/","keywords":["White House","North Korea","Nuclear Weapons","Missiles","trump","onetime","Rex Tillerson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe8fb8ac768ca64b/6988bed186f68e5a696e3e19/donald-trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe8fb8ac768ca64b/6988bed186f68e5a696e3e19/donald-trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump, Paul Ryan Attend Traditional Congressional Luncheon For Irish PM","caption":"Trump, Paul Ryan Attend Traditional Congressional Luncheon For Irish PM","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4705140/donald-trump-twitter-north-korea/","name":"President Trump Is Blaming North Korea for 'Behaving Very Badly'"}}]}] ```