Franks: Pyongyang would be wiped off map if North Korea bombs US

PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that North Korea’s capital city would be wiped off the map should the rogue nation deploy nuclear weapons against the United States.

“I believe that it’s very important that North Korea and its leader, Mr. Kim Jong Un, understand that, if they launch a nuclear weapon and it hits a civilian population in the United States of America, they will need a Geiger counter to find Pyongyang,” he told Fox News.

Franks’ strong language came the same day that North Korea tested its most powerful weapon to date, which some think could have enough range to launch an attack on Washington, D.C.

A resumption of Pyongyang’s torrid testing pace in pursuit of its goal of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can hit the U.S. mainland had been widely expected, but the apparent power and suddenness of the new test still jolted the Korean Peninsula and Washington.

Franks said he believes the nation will soon have the technology to build a nuclear warhead.

“It just seems every day that passes, North Korea demonstrates a new capability,” he said.

The congressman urged his colleagues to back two measures that would create both space-based and boost-phase missile defense systems, something Vice President Mike Pence was working on.

“If we had that now, it would be a very different equation,” Franks said. “We really wouldn’t be in the kind of bind that we’re in.”

The firing was a clear message of defiance aimed at the Trump administration, which had just restored the North to a U.S. list of terror sponsors. It also ruined nascent diplomatic efforts, raised fears of war or a pre-emptive U.S. strike and casted a deeper shadow over the security of the Winter Olympics early next year in South Korea.

In response to the launch, Trump said the United States will “take care of it.” He told reporters after the launch: “It is a situation that we will handle.” He did not elaborate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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