Now to some stunning revelations from Bob Woodward's new book "Fear: Trump in the White House"... but these relate to President Trump's predecessor... Barack Obama.<br />Woodward says the former U.S. president was seriously considering a preemptive attack on North Korea... after the regime conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date.<br />Lee Seung-jae reports.<br /> <br /> "Fear: Trump in the White House",... a book released on Tuesday by journalist Bob Woodward is in the spotlight,... for its revelations on what could have been a preemptive strike on North Korea.<br />According to Woodward,... former U.S. President Barack Obama mulled a preemptive attack on the communist state after its fifth nuclear test in 2016.<br />Woodward writes that Obama was deeply disturbed to learn North Korea had conducted its biggest-yet nuclear detonation on September 9th, 2016,... with the North claiming the nuclear bomb could be mounted on a ballistic missile,... which could hit the U.S. mainland.<br />He added the former President posed a sensitive question to his National Security Council,... if it was possible to launch a preemptive military strike,... supported by cyber attacks on the North,... to take out the regime's nuclear and missile programs.<br /> The book also revealed what would could have happened,... if the U.S. did go ahead with a preemptive strike,,... citing an intelligence assessment which showed a U.S. attack could not wipe out everything North Korea had.<br />The CIA noted "there would be lost targets because they did not know about them... and partial destruction of other targets."<br />A month long study by U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon reported to Obama that "perhaps 85 percent of all known nuclear weapons" would be destroyed.<br />This, according to Woodward,... is why Obama decided against the preemptive attack.<br /> Meanwhile,... the book also says President Trump took out his anger on South Korean President Moon Jae-in as he pummeled the allies' trade and security relationship.<br />It added Moon and Trump spoke by phone on January 19th,... one day before the U.S. president marked his first year in office.<br />During that conversation, Woodward says Trump told his South Korean counterpart that he wanted to send a letter terminating the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, and demanded payment for the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.<br /> Experts say the book's revelations could hurt the Trump administration's efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.<br />Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News. <br />
