S Koreans still optimistic

– Most South Koreans doubt that North Korea will start a war, a survey showed yesterday, just days after the North’s largest nuclear test, as President Donald Trump again highlighted the possibility of a US military response.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons in defiance of UN sanctions, testing a string of missiles this year, including one flying over Japan, and conducting its sixth nuclear test on Sunday.

Experts believe the isolated regime is close to its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, something Trump has vowed to prevent.

Still, a Gallup Korea survey showed South Koreans were considerably less concerned about war compared with June 2007, nine months after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, in September 2006.

The survey found that 58% of those questioned felt there was no possibility North Korea would cause a war, while only 37% thought it could. In 2007, 51% of respondents said they expected a war, while 45% did not.

Trump has repeatedly said all options are on the table in dealing with North Korea and on Thursday said he would prefer not to use military action, but if he did, it would be a “very sad day” for North Korea.

“Military action would certainly be an option. Is it inevitable? Nothing is inevitable,” said Trump. “If we do use it, it will be a very sad day for North Korea.”

Even as Trump has insisted that now is not the time to talk, senior members of his administration have made clear that the door to a diplomatic solution is open, especially given the US assessment that any pre-emptive strike would unleash massive North Korean retaliation.

North Korea says it needs its weapons to protect itself from US aggression and regularly threatens to destroy the United States.

South Korea and the United States are technically still at war with North Korea after the 195053 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

The United States wants the UN Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers abroad. –