TRUMP WARNS NORTH KOREA – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  The president is building his international credibility.  North Korea should take his words very seriously.  From Fox: 

With the first 100 days in the rearview mirror, President Trump is entering the next phase of his administration vowing to confront the crisis with North Korea – saying in an interview that “we have to be prepared for the worst,” as Congress moves on a separate front to apply new sanctions. 

Trump told The Washington Examiner that he sees Kim Jong Un as "very threatening.”

"We have to be prepared to do what we have to do. We cannot allow this to go on,” Trump said.

In a separate interview, Trump declined to rule out military action. And his National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told “Fox News Sunday” that it’s “important for all of us to confront this regime.”

The Trump administration, Congress and the international community continue to consider multiple options, however, for cooling the tensions with North Korea, not the least of which is Trump’s bid to court China to exert pressure on Pyongyang. 

The North Korea situation stands as perhaps Trump’s most pressing international concern, even as he looks to notch legislative achievements in Washington on health care and tax reform -- two goals that eluded him during his first 100 days.

On Capitol Hill, the House plans to debate and vote on a new North Korea sanctions bill Monday night. The new push would target its shipping industry and those who employ North Korean slave labor abroad.

COMMENT:  We hope for a peaceful solution, but Trump has now drawn his own red line in the sand, or the mud, or wherever a red line is drawn in east Asia.  "We cannot allow this to go on," is pretty blunt.  Translated, the problem must be solved to our satisfaction, not kicked down the road.  Trump must pass this test.  He must show a result.

May 1,  2017