Naheed Janjua
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US Secretary of State warns North Korea that military action is an ‘option’
Global Village Space
Military action by the United States against nuclear-armed North Korea is an “option on the table” if the threat from the rogue regime escalates, Washington’s top diplomat Rex Tillerson said Friday.
The strong comments from the secretary of state, in Asia for his first foray into crisis management, appear to signal a sea change in American policy towards the isolated country.
Tillerson’s tour comes after a missile launch last week that Pyongyang described as a drill for an attack on US bases in Japan.
The US has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea to defend it from the North, but the capital Seoul is within the range of Pyongyang’s artillery and analysts believe any conflict could risk rapid escalation and heavy casualties.
Even so, Tillerson said the United States’ “strategic patience” had ended — the stance of the previous administration under Barack Obama.
Over the past 11 years, North Korea has responded by carrying out five nuclear tests and dozens of missile launches, and made it clear it is not prepared to relinquish weapons of mass destruction in the face of American “hostility”.
Under that policy, the US ruled out engaging the North until it made a tangible commitment to denuclearisation, hoping that internal stresses in the isolated country would bring about change.
Tillerson said North Korea could no longer be allowed to continue developing its nuclear and missile technology. “That would leave North Korea with significant capabilities that would represent a true threat,” he said.
On Thursday in Tokyo, he also conceded that 20 years of US attempts to “denuclearise” North Korea had been unsuccessful. “I think it’s important to recognise that the political and diplomatic efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to the point of denuclearisation have failed.”
“That includes a period where the United States has provided $1.35bn in assistance to North Korea as an encouragement to take a different pathway.”
“In the face of this ever-escalating threat, it is clear that a different approach is required. Part of the purpose of my visit to the region is to exchange views on a new approach.”
“We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table,” Tillerson told reporters at a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-Se.
“Certainly we do not want to, for things to get to the military conflict,” he said. “If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe require action, then, that option’s on the table.”
readfFull story: US Secretary of State warns North Korea that military action is an ‘option’
Global Village Space
Military action by the United States against nuclear-armed North Korea is an “option on the table” if the threat from the rogue regime escalates, Washington’s top diplomat Rex Tillerson said Friday.
The strong comments from the secretary of state, in Asia for his first foray into crisis management, appear to signal a sea change in American policy towards the isolated country.
Tillerson’s tour comes after a missile launch last week that Pyongyang described as a drill for an attack on US bases in Japan.
The US has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea to defend it from the North, but the capital Seoul is within the range of Pyongyang’s artillery and analysts believe any conflict could risk rapid escalation and heavy casualties.
Even so, Tillerson said the United States’ “strategic patience” had ended — the stance of the previous administration under Barack Obama.
Over the past 11 years, North Korea has responded by carrying out five nuclear tests and dozens of missile launches, and made it clear it is not prepared to relinquish weapons of mass destruction in the face of American “hostility”.
Under that policy, the US ruled out engaging the North until it made a tangible commitment to denuclearisation, hoping that internal stresses in the isolated country would bring about change.
Tillerson said North Korea could no longer be allowed to continue developing its nuclear and missile technology. “That would leave North Korea with significant capabilities that would represent a true threat,” he said.
On Thursday in Tokyo, he also conceded that 20 years of US attempts to “denuclearise” North Korea had been unsuccessful. “I think it’s important to recognise that the political and diplomatic efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to the point of denuclearisation have failed.”
“That includes a period where the United States has provided $1.35bn in assistance to North Korea as an encouragement to take a different pathway.”
“In the face of this ever-escalating threat, it is clear that a different approach is required. Part of the purpose of my visit to the region is to exchange views on a new approach.”
“We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table,” Tillerson told reporters at a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-Se.
“Certainly we do not want to, for things to get to the military conflict,” he said. “If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe require action, then, that option’s on the table.”
readfFull story: US Secretary of State warns North Korea that military action is an ‘option’
