Trump ignores pleas to calm tensions
> He says N. Korea tortured US student ‘beyond belief’
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Tuesday accused North Korea of torturing a captive US student “beyond belief”, spurning pleas from allies and foes in Asia to tone down his warlike rhetoric.
The American president urged nations to “isolate the North Korean menace” as his administration introduced new sanctions and warned that its “nuclear weapons and missile development threaten the entire word with unthinkable loss of life”.
The comments, in the White House Rose Garden, came after the US Treasury announced sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 executives.
Earlier, for the first time, Trump also publicly accused Pyongyang of abusing 22year-old Otto Warmbier, an allegation likely to heighten tensions between the two nuclear powers.
In June, the Ohio native was sent home in a coma after more than a year in prison in North Korea. He died a few days later. Aides say Trump was personally shocked and angered by Warmbier’s death, and that the government suspects mistreatment.
But the US president had stopped short of publicly accusing the regime of torture, a move that would raise expectations of a tough response, escalate tensions and could complicate any future releases.
Since June, the US and North Korea have traded military moves and bombastic insults in a stand-off over Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programmes.
After seeing Warmbier’s parents on television on Tuesday morning, Trump cast previous concerns aside.
“Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea,” he said in an early morning tweet.
The missive came just hours after South Korea – whose densely-populated capital Seoul is just 60km from the demilitarised zone dividing the Korean peninsula – asked its US ally to take the heat out of the situation.
Foreign minister Kang Kyung-Wha visited Washington to warn it was imperative to “prevent further escalation of tensions or any kind of accidental military clashes which can quickly go out of control”.
Similarly, China, the North’s neighbour and only major ally, warned Tuesday that any conflict would have “no winners”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said rhetorical sparring “will only increase the risk of confrontation and reduce the room for policy manoeuvre”.
US defence secretary Jim Mattis, visiting India, stressed that Washington wants a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Joe Dunford said tensions are political rather than military.
“While the political space is clearly very charged right now, we haven’t seen a change in the posture of North Korean forces. We watch that very carefully.” – AFP