Former President Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen slammed President Trump on Wednesday for his stern "fire and fury" warning to North Korea, stating on MSNBC that "locker room language" is not "going to intimidate the North Koreans."

Cohen, who served as Clinton's Defense secretary from 1997 to 2001, also said the North Koreans know "the United States is not going to launch a pre-emptive attack putting at risk hundreds of thousands if not millions of South Koreans and Japanese and others."

The perspective comes after President Trump declared Tuesday that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

The comments were made at Trump's golf club during what the administration describes as a "working vacation" while the White House is being renovated.

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"That language is not going to intimidate the North Koreans. To me, it’s always better when you see an enemy that remains silent," Cohen told "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough.

"That’s more frightening than someone who is beating his chest or engaging in schoolyard banter or locker room language, than to have a more powerful impact. So I think silence would have been very good here, and let the diplomats like Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson, let the others who are trying to bring about a peaceful solution to this have the authority to do so," he continued.

"I think we have to be careful of the rhetoric. It doesn’t push us closer but it was pretty bombastic," Cohen concluded.

Tillerson stated Wednesday he doesn't believe there is an "any imminent threat" from North Korea.

"Americans should sleep well at night," Tillerson said during a visit to Guam.

Tillerson also said the president was sending a strong message to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in a language he can understand.

“What the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong Un can understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language,” Tillerson said. “I think the president just wanted to be clear to the North Korean regime on the U.S. unquestionable ability to defend itself, will defend itself and its allies.”

Defense Secretary James Mattis James Norman MattisBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Trump says he wanted to take out Syria's Assad but Mattis opposed it Gary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November MORE said earlier this summer that "a conflict in North Korea would be probably the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetimes."

"The bottom line is it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into a combat if we're not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means," Mattis told CBS's John Dickerson in June.