--- title: Donald Trump on North Korea Plans: ‘You Never Know' description: President Donald Trump said he is sending an "armada" toward the Korean peninsula, when asked about escalating tensions with North Korea canonical: https://time.com/4735853/donald-trump-north-korea-fox-business-interview/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-12T12:27:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:27.159Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump on His Plan for North Korea: ‘You Never Know, Do You?' og:description: "We are sending an armada. Very powerful." og:url: https://time.com/4735853/donald-trump-north-korea-fox-business-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fe69e3f023b4e6a/6988c269cf40a8764fc472f5/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump in the State Department Library in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) on April 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump on His Plan for North Korea: ‘You Never Know, Do You?' twitter:description: "We are sending an armada. Very powerful." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fe69e3f023b4e6a/6988c269cf40a8764fc472f5/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump on His Plan for North Korea: ‘You Never Know, Do You? You Never Know' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Trump Repeats His Charge That the North Korean Leader Is 'Acting Very, Very Badly' [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Repeats His Charge That the North Korean Leader Is 'Acting Very, Very Badly'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EIJrUNJS.m3u8) (0:18)  _Published 2017-03-20. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeated his brusque denouncement of Kim Jong Un, telling reporters as he left his resort home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Sunday that the North Korean leader was "acting very, very badly."_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 12, 2017 12:27 PM UTC  President Donald Trump in the State Department Library in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) on April 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump in the State Department Library in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) on April 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. Olivier Douliery—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 12, 2017 12:27 PM UTC Responding to questions about escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4735735/donald-trump-steve-bannon-downplay/) declined to delve into specifics about his plans, but said he is sending an “armada” toward the Korean peninsula. “You never know, do you? You never know,” Trump [said](https://twitter.com/FoxBusiness/status/852110782879768577) in an interview with Fox Business, when asked how the U.S. is approaching North Korea. “You know I don’t talk about the military.” Trump has often said that he doesn’t like to publicly reveal military plans before acting on them. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Trump said during the Fox Business interview, which aired Wednesday. “We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful — far more powerful than the air craft carrier, that I can tell you. And have the best military people on Earth.” On Saturday, the U.S. [dispatched the Navy’s Carl Vinson carrier strike group](http://time.com/4732530/navy-fleet-south-korea-vinson-pyongyang/) toward the Korean peninsula as a show of force. Trump [spoke with](http://time.com/4735763/xi-jinping-donald-trump-china-north-korea/) Chinese President [Xi Jinping](http://time.com/4727878/donald-trump-xi-jinping-summit-china-problems/) about North Korea on Wednesday, after [urging](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/851798946074832896) China to help the U.S. handle North Korea’s repeated nuclear weapon tests. Xi called for a peaceful resolution to the tension. > [](https://twitter.com/FoxBusiness/status/852110782879768577) North Korea on Tuesday warned it would launch a nuclear attack against the U.S. over any display of American aggression, [Reuters reported](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-japan-idUSKBN17E05Z?il=0). “He is doing the wrong thing,” Trump told Fox Business, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4735853/donald-trump-north-korea-fox-business-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4735853/donald-trump-north-korea-fox-business-interview/"},"headline":"President Trump on His Plan for North Korea: ‘You Never Know, Do You? You Never Know'","datePublished":"2017-04-12T12:27:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:27.159Z","description":"\"We are sending an armada. 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