North Korea and the United States have been embroiled in a potentially devastating war of words after Kim Jong-un threatened to target a US air base on the Pacific island of Guam.
Donald Trump said he would react to any North Korean aggression with “fire and fury” and has demonstrated his intent by refusing to rule out military action in the face of further threats from Pyongyang.
Discussing the growing fears World War 3 could erupt as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, Michael Heaver, a former advisor to Nigel Farage, warned Kim Jong-un and his dictatorship must be taken seriously.
Speaking on Sky News, Heaver said: “Sometimes when we look at Kim Jong-un and North Korea, it’s easy to characterise him as a bit of a joke, a bit of a laugh – but this is an incredibly dangerous man.
“This is a Nazi-regime with death camps that are killing people in North Korea on scale we haven’t seen since the Nazis.
“Actually, it isn’t very funny… We’ve got to start taking this guy a bit more seriously – he isn’t a joke a figure, he’s someone who could potentially bring about nuclear catastrophe in the world.”
Responding to Heaver’s comments, newspaper columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown seemingly compared Kim Jong-un to Mr Trump.
She said: “Both he and Trump are utterly unreliable.
“We are in the presence of two quite volatile, unreliable big men. And yes, I think we are because I think it is important also to remember what he’s been doing to his own people, to his own family, his own brother.
“I’m shocked now to only realise he’s 33, he’s been doing very bad things for a very long time.”
The comments sparked an angry response from Heaver, who was quick to defend the democratically elected US President.
Heaver blast: “I think we massively underplay the unpredictability of the North Korean regime – it’s a regime unlike any other in its outlook, in its madness – and to treat it is a conventional country, it’s on a completely different level.
“And I take exception when people keep comparing Trump and Kim Jong-un.
“As a said, this is a guy with death camps killing people, a brutal dictator, Donald Trump is a successful billionaire who was elected by the people of America to be their President, and is doing a great job to show international leadership – you shouldn’t compare the two!”