President Donald Trump warned Friday that if North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "utters … an overt threat" against Guam or any U.S. ally, "he will truly regret it — and he will regret it fast."
"This man will not get away with what he's doing, believe me," Trump told reporters after a meeting with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta on workplace-development issues in Bridgewater, N.J.
"If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat — which, by the way, he has been uttering for years, and his family has been uttering for years — or if he does anything with respect to Guam or any place else that's an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it, and he will regret it fast."
Trump's rhetoric, his strongest yet against Pyongyang, came after he tweeted earlier Friday that the United States was "locked and loaded" should Kim follow through on plans later this month to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near Guam.
The warning also came amid news reports that administration officials have been in back-channel negotiations with North Korea for several months on a variety of issues, including the release of an American university student currently held in prison.
Regarding his "locked and loaded" tweet, President Trump told reporters that its meaning was "pretty obvious.
"We are looking at that very carefully," he added, referring to possible military action. "I hope that they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said — and what I said is what I mean.
"So, hopefully they'll understand exactly what I said and the meaning of those words.
"Those words are very, very easy to understand."
The president declined to discuss the diplomatic efforts, saying "we don't want to talk about progress.
"We don't want to talk about back channels.
"We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many, many years — decades, actually — through numerous administrations.
"They didn't want to take on the issue—and I have no choice but to take it on, and I'm taking it on.
"We'll either be very, very successful, quickly, or we're going to be very, very successful in a different way, quickly."
President Trump also beat back attacks on his fiery tone, charging that "my critics are only saying that because it's me.
"If somebody else uttered the exact words, they'd say: 'What a great statement. What a wonderful statement.'
"But I will tell you, we have tens of millions of people in this country that are so happy with what I'm saying," Trump said.
"They're saying: 'Finally, we have a president that's sticking up for our nation and, frankly, sticking up for our friends and allies.'"