Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice acknowledged Thursday that three previous administrations "failed" in stopping North Korea's nuclear ambitions, as President Donald Trump asserted in his stepped-up rhetoric against the regime.
"That's a very unfortunate outcome," Rice, who also served as United Nations ambassador under former President Barack Obama, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN in an interview from Park City, Utah.
"You can call it a failure," she said. "I accept that characterization over the last two decades.
"But we are where we are. And we now need to decide how to proceed."
President Trump told reporters Thursday in Bedminster, N.J., he was open to talking with dictator Kim Jong Un, but "they have been negotiating for 25 years."
"Look at Clinton," he said, referring to President Bill Clinton. "He folded.
"He was weak and ineffective."
After noting President George W. Bush was also not successful, Trump said "Obama didn't even want to talk about it.
"But I talk," the president said. "It's about time. Someone has to do it."
Trump also warned if Kim followed through on plans to strike Guam, the U.S. response "will be an event the likes of which nobody's seen before.
"It's not a dare," the president said. "It's a statement."
Rice told Blitzer she was concerned about whether the Trump administration was moving toward "preventative war or pre-emptive war."
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"Deterrents makes good sense," she said. "It is very essential for us to maintain — and we don't ever take off of the table the threat of the use of force.
"But preemptive war, if one was thinking of executing that would be catastrophic for the Korean peninsula," Rice said.
She noted more than 200,000 Americans lived in the region and that 26 million people reside in Seoul, the South Korean capital.
"A preemptive attack is not a good idea," she said.
Moving forward, "we need to be very measured, careful, and planned in our rhetoric," Rice told Blitzer.
"I hope we will see more pressure out of the president as he is approaching this challenge."
But if Pyongyang does attack Guam, "I have confidence that we have responses that are proportionate to the problem," Rice said.
"The American people need know that we have and continue to refine advanced missile-defense capabilities to protect our allies and our homeland.
"We're in a position to respond and to defend ourselves."
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