KIM THREATENING ‘CATASTROPHE,’ U.S. DEFENCE CHIEF SAYS AT DMZ
SEOUL In a visit to the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday accused North Korea of building a nuclear arsenal to “threaten others with catastrophe,” the Yonhap news agency reported.
Mattis pledged solidarity with South Korea, saying that President Donald Trump’s administration wants to avoid war if possible and remains committed to forcing North Korea to disarm.
“Our goal is not war,” Mattis said, according to the New York Times, “but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
He called North Korea an “oppressive regime that shackles its people, denying their freedom, their welfare and their human dignity,” and said Pyongyang’s “provocations continue to threaten regional and global security,” The Times reported.
Mattis met with South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo ahead of Trump’s planned visit next month. They are set to discuss the bilateral defence alliance, including a timetable for returning wartime operational control to Seoul from Washington.
While a Trump visit to the DMZ hasn’t been ruled out, it could been seen as provocative — North and South Korean soldiers stand metres part on either side of a line that marks the heavily fortified border.