AFP, Seoul :
Washington’s goal “is not war” as it seeks to ease high military tension with Pyongyang, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday, standing at the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas.
Tension has flared on the Korean peninsula as US President Donald Trump and the North’s ruler Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults that sparked global alarm.
But Mattis, who visited the tense Demilitarised Zone during a trip to South Korea, said the US was committed to a “diplomatic solution”.
“As the US Secretary of State Tillerson made clear, our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” he said in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Mattis also stressed he and his South Korean counterpart Song Young-Moo had “made clear our mutual commitment to a diplomatic solution to address North Korea’s reckless, outlaw behaviour”.
The remark came a day after Mattis had said Washington was “not rushing to war” and was looking for a “peaceful resolution”.
He is set to hold annual defence talks with Song on Saturday during the two-day trip, which comes ahead of a planned trip by Trump to the South-a key US ally in Asia-next month.
Trump is set to visit Seoul from November 7 to 8 with all eyes on his message to the North and Kim.
The isolated North carried out its sixth nuclear test last month and has launched several missiles in recent months potentially capable of reaching the mainland of its “imperialist enemy” the US.
The moves, staged in violation of UN resolutions banning the North from any use of atomic and ballistic technology, prompted new US-led UN sanctions against the impoverished state.
Pyongyang reacted angrily to new sanctions, and Trump’s recent remark that “only one thing will work” with the North fuelled concerns of a potential conflict.
But even some Trump advisers say US military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch an artillery barrage on the South Korean capital Seoul-only around 50 kilometres from the border and home to 10 million people.
The North says its atomic weapons are “treasured sword” to protect itself from potential invasion by the US.
In an accompanying report from the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) published Thursday, David Hawk, former executive director of Amnesty International USA and a former U.N. human rights official, describes the harrowing conditions inside the regime’s “system of arbitrary detention and severe repression.”
The brief exchange at the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) – where U.S .President Donald Trump may visit in coming days – spoke volumes about the risks of any miscalculation as tension soars over Pyongyang’s rapidly advancing nuclear weapon and missile programs.
Last week, CIA chief Mike Pompeo said North Korea could be only months away from developing the ability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons, a scenario Trump has vowed to prevent.
U.S. intelligence experts say Pyongyang believes it needs the weapons to ensure its survival and have been skeptical about diplomatic efforts, focusing on sanctions, to get Pyongyang to willingly denuclearise.
But, as the DMZ trip highlighted, North Korea’s conventional weaponry poses such a risk to South Korea that any attempt to denuclearize the North by force could easily escalate into a devastating conflict.
Mattis was keen to emphasize efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis, including at the DMZ, as he addressed reporters with his back to the dividing line between North and South.
Washington’s goal “is not war” as it seeks to ease high military tension with Pyongyang, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday, standing at the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas.
Tension has flared on the Korean peninsula as US President Donald Trump and the North’s ruler Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults that sparked global alarm.
But Mattis, who visited the tense Demilitarised Zone during a trip to South Korea, said the US was committed to a “diplomatic solution”.
“As the US Secretary of State Tillerson made clear, our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” he said in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Mattis also stressed he and his South Korean counterpart Song Young-Moo had “made clear our mutual commitment to a diplomatic solution to address North Korea’s reckless, outlaw behaviour”.
The remark came a day after Mattis had said Washington was “not rushing to war” and was looking for a “peaceful resolution”.
He is set to hold annual defence talks with Song on Saturday during the two-day trip, which comes ahead of a planned trip by Trump to the South-a key US ally in Asia-next month.
Trump is set to visit Seoul from November 7 to 8 with all eyes on his message to the North and Kim.
The isolated North carried out its sixth nuclear test last month and has launched several missiles in recent months potentially capable of reaching the mainland of its “imperialist enemy” the US.
The moves, staged in violation of UN resolutions banning the North from any use of atomic and ballistic technology, prompted new US-led UN sanctions against the impoverished state.
Pyongyang reacted angrily to new sanctions, and Trump’s recent remark that “only one thing will work” with the North fuelled concerns of a potential conflict.
But even some Trump advisers say US military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch an artillery barrage on the South Korean capital Seoul-only around 50 kilometres from the border and home to 10 million people.
The North says its atomic weapons are “treasured sword” to protect itself from potential invasion by the US.
In an accompanying report from the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) published Thursday, David Hawk, former executive director of Amnesty International USA and a former U.N. human rights official, describes the harrowing conditions inside the regime’s “system of arbitrary detention and severe repression.”
The brief exchange at the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) – where U.S .President Donald Trump may visit in coming days – spoke volumes about the risks of any miscalculation as tension soars over Pyongyang’s rapidly advancing nuclear weapon and missile programs.
Last week, CIA chief Mike Pompeo said North Korea could be only months away from developing the ability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons, a scenario Trump has vowed to prevent.
U.S. intelligence experts say Pyongyang believes it needs the weapons to ensure its survival and have been skeptical about diplomatic efforts, focusing on sanctions, to get Pyongyang to willingly denuclearise.
But, as the DMZ trip highlighted, North Korea’s conventional weaponry poses such a risk to South Korea that any attempt to denuclearize the North by force could easily escalate into a devastating conflict.
Mattis was keen to emphasize efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis, including at the DMZ, as he addressed reporters with his back to the dividing line between North and South.
