Kinzinger Disagrees with Putin: NKorea At Fault for Tensions

It's one thing to take Russian President Vladimir Putin at his word that the situation between North Korea and the United States is escalating, but not his implication that the U.S. or President Donald Trump are at fault, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Friday.

"There is only one person that is at fault here and one country, and that is North Korea," the Illinois Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "[This is] a nation that, despite agreements with the United States, has said they are not going to develop nuclear weapons, yet they continue to."

North Korea this week also shot a missile over Japan, pointed out Kinzinger, "so if you look at where is this escalating? It is with them."

Putin, in an article published on the Kremlin's website Friday, warned that the standoff between North Korea and the United States was nearing the point of large-scale conflict. He further said it is a mistake to try to push Pyongyang and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on its nuclear missile program.

The Russian president is due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations in China next week, and wrote that he favors negotiations with North Korea on military action.

"There is a reason that Vladimir Putin is writing this," said Kinzinger. "He is trying to make it look as if he is reasonable. And they have, in China, Russia, North Korea, they have always wanted us to stop our joint military exercises with South Korea. They are trying to put this out that  there is a reasonable solution, to say if you guys just simply quit your joint military exercises, North Korea will stop developing missiles. We know from the past that it never happens."

The lawmaker said he does think there is an opportunity for the U.S. and Russia to work with the Chinese on the North Korean issue, but now is not the time, as "we are in this kind of moment-by-moment mode where we can't think strategically or long-term."

Kinzinger said he believes the options for dealing with North Korea will need to involve maintaining a credible military option in Asia, which we do, but also continuing to build it up and invest in missile defense technology.

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