Donald Trump should be given credit over North Korea, says ex-Vice President Gore

Donald Trump deserves to be given credit for his handling of the North Korea crisis.

That’s the unlikely view of former US vice-president Al Gore, who has said the unanimous U.N. Security Council vote to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang earlier this week was an “achievement for his diplomacy”.

Gore, who has been a stringent critic of Trump’s views and actions on climate change, said that Trump “inherited a very dangerous situation” from previous world leaders and so should not be blamed entirely for the escalation, which most recently saw North Korea promising a plan to strike the U.S. territory of Guam within days.

Tensions were ratcheted up this week when the U.S. president responded to news that Pyongyang had developed miniaturised nuclear warheads with a drastic warning that he would meet their continued threats with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”.

“I think his intemperate comments the other day did not help the situation”, said Gore, “but it’s a very difficult challenge”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Gore said the world should take comfort from the presence of experienced military figures like National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in the White House.

“These are thoughtful men, experienced, and that should be a source of some comfort as we look at how the U.S. administration is handling this crisis”, said Gore.

MORE: Donald Trump improvised dire North Korea ‘fire and fury’ warning on the spot
MORE: North Korea’s plan to launch missiles at Guam ‘will be ready in weeks’

Gore, who is in the UK for the premiere of his new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, also said that Trump is “less of a problem” than first feared on the issue of climate change.

He explained that this was because Trump’s controversial decision to withdraw the U.S from a landmark international agreement to tackle climate change resulted in the rest of the world and individual U.S. states and cities redoubling their commitments to fight global warming.

Gore added that he initially believed Trump “would come to his senses” on climate change, although he has “surrounded himself with a rogues gallery of climate deniers”.