--- title: Donald Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything' description: President Donald Trump once again declined to rule out any options on North Korea. canonical: https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-22T16:44:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:58:05.538Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything' og:description: He doubled down on his previous threats og:url: https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything' twitter:description: He doubled down on his previous threats twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything' > 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=8f9b684e-ac2b-48f2-a4f3-fc3305409684&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. Speech [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/I4DNTm1m.m3u8) (0:36)  _Published 2017-09-19. President Trump threatened North Korea with total destruction in his first speech to the United Nations, but said that the international body could still prevent war_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 22, 2017 4:44 PM UTC President Trump threatened North Korea with total destruction in his first speech to the United Nations, but said that the international body could still prevent war  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 22, 2017 4:44 PM UTC President Donald Trump once again declined to provide specifics about his administration’s plan for North Korea, claiming the United States is “prepared for anything.” “You would be shocked to see how totally prepared we are if we need to be. Would it be nice not to do that? The answer is yes. Will that happen? Who knows,” Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired Sunday. Bartiromo had asked Trump about his relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping, and if that relationship was solely based on attempts to control North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. As North Korea’s largest trading partner, China is thought to have considerable leverage and influence over the region. Trump replied that he and Xi Jinping have an “exceptional relationship” and that China was being helpful, although he did not elaborate. “He’s got the power to do something very significant with respect to North Korea. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said about Xi Jingping. In the past, Trump has criticized China in this regard, claiming in September that North Korea’s sixth nuclear missile test, which detonated a hydrogen bomb, was an “[embarrassment](http://time.com/4926103/donald-trump-north-korea-bomb-test/)” to the country. While Trump has repeatedly used bombastic rhetoric to describe the situation in North Korea, his deputies have taken a more diplomatic approach. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson[ said last Sunday](http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1710/15/sotu.01.html) that “diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.” “The president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically. He’s not seeking to go to war,” Tillerson said on CNN’s State of the Union earlier this month. ## Transcript [00:00] The United States has great strength and patience. But [00:04] if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have [00:08] no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. [00:14] Rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself, and [00:18] for his regime. The United States is ready, willing [00:23] and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. [00:28] It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the [00:31] Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/"},"headline":"President Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything'","datePublished":"2017-10-22T16:44:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:58:05.538Z","description":"He doubled down on his previous threats","url":"https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/","keywords":["North Korea","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Matt Cardy—PA 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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4992627/donald-trump-north-korea-china/","name":"President Trump on North Korea: 'We're Prepared for Anything'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. 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