Former CSIS head worried by North Korea situation

by Janice Dickson (feat. Richard Fadden)

iPolitics
April 23, 2017

Canada’s former head of CSIS, Richard Fadden, says the situation in North Korea is “worrisome” and suggests U.S. President Donald Trump’s isn’t helping.

In an interview with Evan Solomon on CTV’s Question Period, Fadden called Trump and North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un unpredictable.

“I think the main concern should be that we have two national leaders – Mr. Trump and the supreme leader of North Korea who aren’t the most predictable people on the surface of the planet,” Fadden told Solomon when asked about how dangerous the situation in North Korea is for Canada.

“I don’t think it takes a great deal to excite the supreme leader of North Korea and Mr. Trump seems to be poking at him so at one level that destabilizes the whole area quite a bit.”

Tensions are rising in North Korea as it continues to test its nuclear weapons and threatens the United States and its allies. Earlier Sunday North Korea threatened to sink a US aircraft carrier heading towards the tense Korean peninsula, and said it would strike Australia with nuclear weapons if it “blindly” followed its American ally.

Fadden raised the issue of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMBS) and said it’s not clear whether they can reach the west coast of the United States and Canada.

“It is clear they have intermediate range (ICMBS) – they’re working on long-range ones and even the fear of having an ICMB is destabilizing so I think it’s quite worrisome,” he told Solomon.