[WATCH] Trump arrives in Beijing after warning North Korea 'do not try us'

'We will offer a path to a much better future', says Trump, in a national assembly in South Korea, provided that Pyongyang puts a stop to the development of their ballistic missiles

Donald Trump (Photo: ABC)
Donald Trump (Photo: ABC)

 

US President Donald Trump landed in Beijing, for a visit likely to focus heavily on trade and tensions with North Korea.

Earlier, in an address to South Korea’s parliament, Trump delivered a stark personal message to Kim Jong-un, saying North Korea will face disaster unless he gives up his nuclear ambitions.

Speaking in front of lawmakers at South Korea’s national assembly, the US president offered a “brighter path” if Pyongyang abandoned its weapons programme, leaving the door open to diplomacy, but also warned that the US was prepared to use military means if necessary.

 “The weapons that you are acquiring are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger,” he said. “Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face.”

Addressing Kim directly, he said “despite every crime you have committed against God and man”, the US was prepared to resolve the crisis diplomatically.

“We will offer a path to a much better future,” he said. “It begins with an end to the aggression of your regime, a stop to your development of ballistic missiles, and complete, verifiable and total denuclearisation.”

Trump also issued a warning to the regime, saying: “Do not underestimate us. Do not try us”.

Park Ju-min, a lawmaker who attended the speech, said: “It’s good that he didn’t make any comments that will enrage the North.

“Of course, North Korea will feel offended because of Trump’s focus on human rights abuses, but he did not make any specific threats against Kim.”

Park added that he was hoping to hear more about improving communication between South Korea and the US.

Trump said the world would not tolerate “the menace of a rogue regime” and further nuclear provocations. He also called on China and Russia to help resolve the nuclear crisis by downgrading diplomatic relations with Pyongyang and severing all trade ties.

China is North Korea’s most important diplomatic ally and largest trading partner.

“It is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together,” he said. “The longer we wait, the great[er] the danger grows and the fewer the options become,” said Trump.

Before his arrival in Beijing from South Korea, Trump praises on Xi Jinping, saying he was looking forward to meeting the Chinese president after "his great political victory".

Xi recently consolidated his power at a Chinese Communist Party congress, a move analysts claim will make him less likely to reach a compromise with Trump.

There are tensions between the two, with Trump having attacked China over its alleged unfair trade practices.

Trump and his wife Melania are scheduled to visit the Forbidden City, followed by afternoon tea.