By Jung Ha-Won
By borrowing from North Korea's own rhetorical playbook in his latest verbal assault on Pyongyang, US President Donald Trump risks provoking the unpredictable, nuclear-armed regime into carrying out "the very attack we seek to deter", critics say.
At his New Jersey golf club, Trump warned that the North -- which last month carried out two successful tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile -- would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it makes more threats against the US.
The language was similar to the bombastic, colourful diatribes North Korea unleashes against enemies such as South Korea, which it habitually threatens to turn into a "sea of flames" with its missiles.
But Trump's comments were made as Asia was waking up to the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and analysts said they would be closely examined in Pyongyang.
The US needed to avoid "escalating rhetoric that risks provoking the very attack we seek to deter", said Laura Rosenberger, former National Security Council director for Korea and China.
The "biggest concern is if they fear US action is imminent and they act in what they believe to be preemptive way", she said on Twitter.
"Trump's statement today is the kind of threat that could accelerate and/or tip that decision."
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