What does "totally destroy" mean?

[edelsont]

This morning, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump said this:

The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

I just want to ask one question: what did he mean by the phrase "totally destroy North Korea"?

You see, when I first read it, I thought it was obvious what that meant.  And then I talked to a friend, who interpreted it rather differently.

So what do you think he meant?  I will list four possibilities, but perhaps your own view doesn't match any of them.  In any case, I'd like to hear it.

The possibilities I've thought of so far:

1. Destroy the current North Korean regime: put Kim Jong-Un out of power.  (Interpret this to mean that Mr. Trump wasn't being specific about what regime would follow it.)


2. Destroy the current North Korean state, by reuniting Korea under what is currently the South Korean regime.


3. Destroy the military capabilities of North Korea.


4. Destroy the country physically, meaning something like: kill a large fraction of the people, and perhaps render the territory now known as "North Korea" uninhabitable for several years.

I suppose you'd like to know what my original interpretation was.  But I'd rather not tell you that ... yet.  I don't want that to influence your answer.

Bonus: here's an alternate version of the question.  Would "totally destroying" North Korea, as Donald Trump meant that phrase to be understood, involve the use of nuclear weapons?

I invite your reply in the comments.  If you are logged in to Dreamwidth, then your comment will become visible as soon as you enter it.  If you are not logged in, you can still comment, but your comment won't be visible (to anyone but me) until I "screen" it.

Comments

Totally destroy?

[(Anonymous)]

I am hoping there would be enough resistance to permanent destruction of the land of Korea. But I do think he would think nothing of wiping out the entire population of the southern half of the country-- and endangering the northern half. The man is crazy!

Re: Totally destroy?

[edelsont]

Thanks for your comment. But just let me check: did you really mean "... he would think nothing of wiping out the entire population of the southern half of the country-- and endangering the northern half"? Or -- since South Korea is the one we consider our ally -- could you have meant the other way around?

If you did mean it the way you said it, I would love to hear the thinking behind that.