Takes a swipe

Merkel takes swipe at Trump’s fiery North Korea comments

‘Escalation of rhetoric’ is wrong answer to crisis, German chancellor says.

By VICTOR BRECHENMACHER

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday implicitly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiery comments on North Korea and called for the crisis over Pyongyang’s missile program to be resolved through diplomacy.

“I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer,” Merkel said at a press conference on migration in Berlin. “I do not see a military solution to this conflict.”

The crisis should be resolved through the United Nations Security Council and cooperation between the U.S. and other Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan, Merkel added.

Her comments came after a war of words between the U.S. and North Korea over the past week, with Trump threatening to unleash “fire and fury” and Pyongyang saying it would fire missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam.

On Friday, Trump maintained his brash tone, tweeting that “military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.”