Trump: Obama ‘should have taken care of’ North Korea

President Trump on Wednesday placed blame on President Obama and others for not doing more to curb North Korea’s nuclear program, saying that the world has reached a point at which “something has to be done.”

“This should have been handled 25 years ago, it should have been handled 20 years ago, and 10 years ago, and five years ago,” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in an interview. 

“It should have been handled by numerous — not just Obama, but certainly President Obama should have taken care of it. Now it’s at a point where it’s very, very far advanced,” he added. “Something has to be done. We can’t allow this to happen.”

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Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have risen to new heights in the months since Trump took office. He has feuded with North Korean officials, and repeatedly threatened military action against the reclusive Asian nation.

During a speech before the United Nations General Assembly last month, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea, if it forced the U.S. to take military action. Days later, he warned that the country wouldn’t “be around much longer” if it continued to threaten the U.S. and its allies.  

Trump has also sought to pressure China, North Korea’s only major ally, into doing more to rein in Pyongyang. But he has voiced frustration with Beijing at times, casting doubt on the country’s ability to crack down on North Korea.

He told Hannity on Wednesday, however, that China has “been very helpful,” praising Beijing’s move to stop Chinese banks from doing business with North Korea.

“Now China’s been very helpful, I think,” he said. “I think. Who knows? They seem to be very helpful. They cut off banking to North Korea, that’s something they’ve never done before. They’ve cut down, way down, on the fuel and a lot of other things.”

“We’re going to see what happens,” he added.