More nations agree on tougher measures against North Korea
vancouver — Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.
A US-hosted meeting of countries that backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korea War also vowed to support renewed dialogue between the two Koreas “in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions” and agreed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis was both essential and possible.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe UN sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. The US and Canada co-hosted the day-long meeting in Vancouver.
US officials have reported a debate within the Trump administration over whether to give more active consideration to military options, such as a pre-emptive strike on a North Korean nuclear or missile site.
Tillerson brushed off a question about such a “bloody nose” strike, telling a closing news conference:
If north Korea does not chose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option
“I’m a not going to comment on issues that have yet to be decided among the National Security Council or the president.”
However, he said the threat posed by North Korea was growing. “We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation ... We have to recognize that the threat is growing and if North Korea does not chose the
Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State
pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option,” Tillerson said.
“Our approach is, in terms of having N. Korea chose the correct step, is to present them with what is the best option — talks are the best option; that when they look at the military situation, that’s not a good outcome for them.” —