Lawmakers reach deal on sanctions

leaners prefering diplomacy and 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaners backing military action.

Tension has remained high on the Korean Peninsula over the past months between the US and the DPRK over the US threat to stage military attacks against Pyongyang in response to its nuclear and missile programs.

The US and the Republic of Korea also held their largestever joint military exercises in the past months. At the end of April, the USS Carl

nuclear aircraft carrier task group arrived in the waters off the Korean Peninsula for a separate joint naval exercise with the ROK.

However, a joint statement by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said in April that Trump aims to use economic sanctions and diplomatic measures to pressure the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.

The statement also said that the United States remained “open to negotiations” toward peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula while staying “prepared to defend ourselves and our allies.”