--- title: Susan Rice: Striking North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic' description: Former national security adviser Susan Rice warned that launching a pre-emptive war with North Korea would be "foolish and catastrophic" canonical: https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-11T02:08:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:28:19.794Z article:section: Politics og:title: Susan Rice: Striking North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic' og:description: She also cautioned against responding in kind to Pyongyang's fiery rhetoric og:url: https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt155c2fc4cab87c31/6988d951fb4eac13e6893446/gettyimages-496841584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2476 og:image:height: 1393 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-RICE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Susan Rice: Striking North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic' twitter:description: She also cautioned against responding in kind to Pyongyang's fiery rhetoric twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt155c2fc4cab87c31/6988d951fb4eac13e6893446/gettyimages-496841584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Susan Rice Says Pre-Emptive War With North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9676c2da-d145-4db1-ac9c-8ec5a018ca66&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Says ‘Fire and Fury’ North Korea Warning ‘Wasn’t Tough Enough’ [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Says ‘Fire and Fury’ North Korea Warning ‘Wasn’t Tough Enough’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j7tNhROD.m3u8) (0:36)  _Published 2017-08-10. President Donald Trump says that perhaps his 'fire and fury' warning to North Korea "wasn't tough enough." Trump is issuing a new warning over the North's development of nuclear weapons_ by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Aug 11, 2017 2:08 AM UTC President Donald Trump says that perhaps his 'fire and fury' warning to North Korea "wasn't tough enough." Trump is issuing a new warning over the North's development of nuclear weapons by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Aug 11, 2017 2:08 AM UTC Former national security adviser Susan Rice [warned](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/10/politics/susan-rice-north-korea/index.html) Thursday that launching a so-called pre-emptive war with North Korea would be “foolish and catastrophic,” as a war of words escalates between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “A pre-emptive war, if one were actually thinking of executing that, would be catastrophic,” Rice said on CNN’s _Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer_. Rice, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under former President Barack Obama and later became his top security aide, acknowledged that previous administrations had failed in their efforts to prevent Pyongyang from developing a nuclear arsenal, but cautioned that Trump’s aggressive rhetoric would only serve to provoke Kim Jong Un. Trump [warned](http://time.com/4892102/donald-trump-north-korea-news/) this week that continued threats from North Korea would be met “with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” as Pyongyang warned that it was developing a plan to attack the U.S. territory of Guam, a small Pacific island with an American military presence. Amid criticism that his remarks could exacerbate tensions, Trump [doubled down ](http://time.com/4896078/donald-trump-north-korea-trouble-warning/?xid=homepage)Thursday saying that perhaps his statement “wasn’t tough enough.” **Read More:** [_North Korea Calls President Trump’s ‘Fire and Fury’ Threat a ‘Load of Nonsense’_](http://time.com/4894701/north-korea-donald-trump-fire-fury-load-of-nonsense/) Rice told CNN that despite the president’s provocative language, the White House policy of deterrence differs little from that of previous administrations and is appropriate to the threat posed by North Korea’s continued nuclear progress, weapons testing and verbal threats of taking military action. “The core of what President Trump said today, discounting for the rhetoric, was if North Korea were to attack the United States, and obviously Guam is part of the United States, we would respond with the full force of our capabilities,” Rice said. “That’s common sense. That’s deterrence. And that’s the appropriate approach.” “I think the problem is nobody is clear what the red line is,” Rice said. \[[CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/10/politics/susan-rice-north-korea/index.html)\] ## Transcript If anything maybe that's tape it wasn't tough enough. And we're back by 100 % by our military, we're back by everybody. And we're back by many other leaders. And I notice that many senators and others today came out very much in favor of what I said but if anything, that statement may not be tough enough. What would be tougher [ INAUDIBLE ] firing [ INAUDIBLE ]. Well, you'll see. The people of our country are safe, our allies are safe, and I will tell you this, North Korea better get their act together or they're gonna be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/"},"headline":"Susan Rice Says Pre-Emptive War With North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic'","datePublished":"2017-08-11T02:08:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:28:19.794Z","description":"The former national security advisor also cautioned against responding in kind to Pyongyang's fiery rhetoric","url":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/","keywords":["North Korea","Foreign Policy","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt155c2fc4cab87c31/6988d951fb4eac13e6893446/gettyimages-496841584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt155c2fc4cab87c31/6988d951fb4eac13e6893446/gettyimages-496841584.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-RICE","caption":"US-POLITICS-RICE","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/","name":"Susan Rice Says Pre-Emptive War With North Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Says ‘Fire and Fury’ North Korea Warning ‘Wasn’t Tough Enough’","description":"President Donald Trump says that perhaps his 'fire and fury' warning to North Korea \"wasn't tough enough.\" Trump is issuing a new warning over the North's development of nuclear weapons","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/j7tNhROD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-10T19:40:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j7tNhROD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/","duration":"PT36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4896643/susan-rice-north-korea-catastrophic/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```