The US wants a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, US Secretary of Defense james Mattis said yesterday, as China said there would be “no winners” in a war on the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions have soared after Pyongyang claimed the US had declared war against it and threatened to shoot down US bombers, in an escalating spat between US President Donald Trump and the isolated regime.
After the White House took the unusual step of denying it had opened the door to conflict with the nuclear-armed Asian nation, Mattis said Washington’s goal was “to solve this diplomatically.”
“We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats, but also to back up our diplomats in a manner that keeps this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm,” he said in New Delhi after talks with his Indian counterpart.
The Pentagon chief’s emphasis on diplomacy comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traded barbs in the wake of the North’s sixth nuclear bomb and multiple missile tests.
North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho on Monday called a press conference to hit back at a US bomber mission near the North’s coastline and a slew of bombastic warnings from Trump.
Taking umbrage at Trump’s weekend tweet that North Korea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it keeps up its threats, Ri told reporters that the global community hoped that a “war of words” would “not turn into real actions.”
“However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” said Ri, who attended this year’s UN General Assembly session. “He declared a war on our country.”
The White House said Ri’s interpretation of Trump’s saber-rattling as “absurd.”
China warned that any conflict would have “no winners.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) told a regular briefing that the rhetorical sparring “will only increase the risk of confrontation and reduce the room for policy maneuvers.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the security situation on the peninsula was now “more serious than ever,” according to Yonhap news agency.
“We will make North Korea realize that it has no future should it try to face the rest of the world with nukes,” he said, though he added there was still a chance for dialogue.
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