Don’t sleepwalk into a war, Guterres says

TOKYO: United Nations Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres, warning against the danger of ‘‘sleepwalking’’ into war, said yesterday that Security Council resolutions on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes must be fully implemented by Pyongyang and other countries.

Guterres made the comments to reporters after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, days after United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without preconditions.

The White House said this week no negotiations could be held with North Korea until it improved its behaviour. The White House has declined to say whether President Donald Trump, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line towards Pyongyang, approved Tillerson’s move.

‘‘It is very clear that the Security Council resolutions must be fully implemented first of all by North Korea but by all other countries whose role is crucial to . . . achieve the result we all aim at, which is the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,’’ Guterres said.

Security Council unity was also vital ‘‘to allow for the possibility of diplomatic engagement’’ that would allow denuclearisation to take place.

‘‘The worst possible thing that could happen is for us all to sleepwalk into a war that might have very dramatic circumstances,’’ he said.

Japan says now is the time to keep up pressure on Pyongyang, not start talks on the North’s missile and nuclear programmes. China and

Russia, however, have welcomed Tillerson’s overture. — Reuters