In confronting North Korea, Trump risks disaster

President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday was heavy on misleading claims and nationalist vitriol, yet rather light on foreign-policy chat. What Trump did discuss about global affairs, though, has already raised alarms.

The president lobbed more rhetorical broadsides at North Korea, a country whose perceived nuclear threat has loomed over the first year of Trump's presidency. "North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland," Trump said. "We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and to our allies."

Trump pointed to Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector seated in the gallery of the House chamber, describing him as a "witness to the ominous nature" of the regime. The president relayed Ji's story — one of crushing hunger, lost limbs and dangerous escape — as further proof of North Korean perfidy.

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