U.S. President Donald Trump's fiery threat at the United Nations on Tuesday to "totally destroy" North Korea if the United States is forced to defend itself or its allies left much of East Asia reeling, though one clear benefactor has emerged: Shinzo Abe's Japan.
This victory, however, may ultimately prove to be pyrrhic for Tokyo, the U.S. and the region, experts say, with Trump's threat reinforcing Pyongyang's belief that nuclear weapons remain the sole means of securing the regime's safety.
Trump, in his first speech before the global body at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, laid into the regime of dictator Kim Jong Un, which he called "depraved" and "reckless" for causing the starvation deaths of millions of its people and for its dogged pursuit of a nuclear arsenal that it routinely invokes to threaten the U.S. and its allies.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.