Trump gets tough on N Korea
MEASURES: UNITED STATES VOWS TO STEP UP SANCTIONS, ENCOURAGES ALLIES TO DO THE SAME
‘We want to bring Kim Jong-un to his senses, not to his knees.’
Washington
The United States pledged on Wednesday to step up sanctions to force North Korea to resume dialogue over its nuclear programme, but said it was not looking to bring Kim Jong-un’s regime to its knees.
After briefing senators at the White House, top US officials said President Donald Trump also aimed to pursue diplomatic measures with allies and regional partners.
“We are engaging responsible members of the international community to increase pressure on [North Korea] in order to convince the regime to deescalate and return to the path of dialogue,” read a statement from Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
Earlier, Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the Pacific Command, welcomed recent moves by Beijing to defuse soaring tensions between Pyongyang and Washington and suggested a nonmilitary solution remained the preferred outcome.
“It’s critical that we’re guided by a strong sense of resolve, both privately and publicly, both diplomatically and militarily,” Harris said in Washington.
“All options are on the table. We want to bring Kim Jong-un to his senses, not to his knees.”
During a White House luncheon with UN Security Council ambassadors Monday, Trump “was very clear that he will be the president who will deal with” North Korea and that military action remains an option, a senior diplomat said.
National security adviser HR McMaster told the 15 ambassadors that “there would be a military solution even if they don’t want to do it”, the diplomat said.
“Ideally we do this peacefully and politically, which means through China. But if that doesn’t work, there is another plan, which is through the United States,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
Separately, a senior administration official said that the United States was considering adding North Korea to its list of countries that are designated as “state sponsors of terrorism”.
US troops in South Korea began on Wednesday deploying a contentious antimissile system in South Korea that has infuriated China.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) system is being set up on a former golf course in the southern county of Seongju and its arrival was met by hundreds of protesters, some of whom clashed with police.
Harris said the Thaad system “will be operational in the coming days”.
China fears Thaad will weaken its own ballistic capabilities and says it upsets the regional security balance.
Harris also said the Pentagon should weigh whether to install missile interceptors on Hawaii, which could be one of the first parts of the United States in range of an improved North Korean missile, in addition to existing interceptors in California and Alaska.
Pentagon officials have stressed to Trump that there are no easy options for military intervention in North Korea.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former US military helicopter pilot who lost both legs in combat in Iraq, was dismissive of what she and colleagues heard at the White House briefing on North Korea.
“I could’ve gotten all that information by reading a newspaper,” she told CNN. –