The Archbishop of Canterbury sends a message to Trump and Kim
The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged President Trump and Kim Jong-un to watch a 1980s film depicting the day after a nuclear holocaust before their meeting in May.
The Church of England leader spoke out after Friday’s announcement (March 10) the two leaders would hold talks later this year.
The highly-charged summit will see the two powerful figures – who engaged in a petulant Twitter spat last year which saw President Trump brand the North Korean leader ‘short and fat’ – meet in person.
In an exclusive Unified interview the Archbishop urged both Kim and Trump to watch The Day After to see exactly what they are trying to avoid with these talks.
The Day After aired in 1983 on America’s ABC network and shows a fictional war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, which escalates into a full nuclear conflict.
When asked what his message to the nuclear armed pair was, Justin Welby said: “Go and watch one of those films, there is one called The Day After which is about a nuclear attack.
“Get that picture in your mind before you meet and see what your trying to avoid happening in the world.
“Secondly, listen carefully to each other as well as decide to push your own view.”
The senior Church figure didn’t offer any predictions about what the meeting might bring.
When asked if he thinks either side would press ‘the button’ the Archbishop said they might in the right circumstances.
“They have a button,” he added.
“I mean obviously there would be circumstances where they might feel it was warranted to push it but I have no idea whether they personally would choose to do so.
“I go on the Groucho Marx theory of predictions which is I never make predictions especially about the future.”
North Korea has conducted several tests with nuclear bombs but whether or not they have been able to make a warhead small enough to fit onto a missile is unknown.
They claim to have successfully miniaturised nuclear warheads but experts are sceptical.
As of 2017 America had 6,800 nuclear warheads, while 2,800 were retired and waiting to be dismantled 4,018 were in the US stockpile.
