Don’t Double-Dare Kim

In the wake of President Donald Trump saying threats to the United States from North Korea would be met with “fire and fury,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis issued Pyongyang a warning — and a call for de-escalation.

“The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people,” Mattis said on Wednesday, adding that the regime’s “actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”