President Donald Trump's call for "fire and fury" against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "doesn't help the situation," according to Leon Panetta.
The former CIA director and secretary of defense told Politico on Tuesday, at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, that Trump and Kim are "two bullies chiding each other with outrageous comments — and it doesn't help the situation in terms of trying to resolve something that has to be resolved peacefully ... because the consequences of nuclear war would be devastating."
He added, "The question is: "Does [Trump] get so frustrated with the North Korean leader — who's yelling every other day — that he feels that somehow the North Korean leader is attacking his manhood?"
Trump tweeted on Wednesday a reminder about his efforts to strengthen the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
"And [Trump] this is a guy who, if he feels that, does he decide, 'OK, enough is enough?' So we're living on that brink right now,'' Panetta continued. "We're not sure what direction this is going to take ... it's a very dangerous world that's out there and it's going to require a lot of decisions on some tough issues."
The former defense secretary said that amid reports of the country developing a compact nuclear warhead, "there's only one strategy you can use with North Korea — and it's containment and deterrence… You have to make very clear that if they do anything that is provocative, that we can come back in a way that will end the regime. That, frankly, for 60 years, is what we've been doing — and as a result, we've been able to avoid war."