Mattis and Tillerson clarify N. Korea policy
The top U.S. diplomat and defense official moved again Thursday to clarify the Trump administration’s North Korea policy, making clear that it is focused on diplomatic and economic pressure, and that American military action is currently contemplated only in response to an attack by Pyongyang.
“In close collaboration with our allies, there are strong military consequences if DPRK initiates hostilities,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, using the initials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Very simply, in the event of a missile launch towards the territory of Japan, Guam, the United States, [South] Korea, we would take immediate specific actions to take it down.”
Partners in East Asia and beyond have continued to seek reassurance that the United States will defend them as vigorously as it will protect itself, if necessary, while refraining from initiating a shooting war on its own.
In Seoul on Thursday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he had received assurances from visiting Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the United States would take no military action against North Korea without first getting his government’s agreement.
Dunford said that there was “no question” Seoul would be consulted and that “everything we do in the region is in the context of our alliance.”
In Washington, Mattis spoke alongside Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, at a news conference with their Japanese counterparts, following a bilateral security meeting. Along with Dunford, they have repeatedly tried to inject calm and a sense of strategy into differing administration messages that have unsettled allies and the American public.
Tillerson and Mattis began this week with a joint opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal, repeating that the United States sought denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula but was not trying to get rid of the government in Pyongyang.
On Monday, Mattis acknowledged that it would be “a wartime situation” if North Korea fired a missile toward Guam. “If they do that, then it’s game on,” he told reporters, indicating it would be shot down.
The next day, North Korea’s state media said that Kim would put the Guam attack on hold and “watch a little longer” before deciding what to do. Trump, tweeting in response, called that “a very wise and well reasoned decision.”
What he and Mattis want to do, Tillerson said, is to “inform the American people, first, but also inform our important friends and allies as to what our approach is.”
That approach — diplomatic and economic pressure, with military options ready if needed — is different from pressure campaigns under previous administrations, Tillerson said, because of “the level of international unity around this campaign, the level of cooperation we are getting from China and from others in the region.”
Trump, Tillerson said, “just felt it was necessary to remind the [North Korean] regime of what the consequences for them would be if they … make a bad choice for themselves.”