US defence chief for diplomatic solution to crisis

new delhi — The US wants a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, as China warned there would be “no winners” in a war on the Korean peninsula.

Tensions have soared after Pyongyang claimed the United States had declared war against it and threatened to shoot down US bombers, in an escalating spat between President Donald Trump and the isolated regime.

After the White House took the unusual step of denying it had opened the door to conflict with the nuclear-armed Asian nation, Mattis said Washington’s goal was “to solve this diplomatically”.

“We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats but also to back up our diplomats in a manner that keeps this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm,” he said in New Delhi after talks with his Indian counterpart.

The Pentagon chief’s emphasis on diplomacy comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un traded barbs in the wake of the North’s sixth nuclear bomb and multiple missile tests. Pyongyang says it needs the weapons to defend itself against the threat of a US invasion.

The North’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho on Monday called a press conference to hit back at a US bomber mission near the North’s coastline and a slew of bombastic warnings from the American president.

Taking umbrage at Trump’s weekend tweet that North Ko-

We maintain the capability to deter North Korea’s most dangerous threats but also to back up our diplomats in a manner that keeps this as long as possible in the diplomatic realm Jim Mattis, US Defence Secretary

rea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it keeps up its threats, Ri told reporters that the international community hoped that a “war of words” would “not turn into real actions”.

“However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” said Ri, who attended this year’s UN General Assembly session. “He declared a war on our country.”

The White House said Ri’s interpretation of Trump’s sabre-rattling as “absurd”. South Korean President Moon Jae-in cautioned that the security situation on the peninsular was now “more serious than ever”, according to the Yonhap news agency. “We will make North Korea realise that it has no future should it try to face the rest of the world with nukes,” he said, though he added there was still a chance for dialogue.

South Korea, whose denselypopulated capital Seoul is located just 56km from the demilitarised zone dividing the Korean peninsula, has also asked the US to take the heat out of the situation. —