Dialogue with NoKor pushed
Duterte calls on US, allies to reach out to Kim, avert nuke war
To prevent a devastating nuclear war in the region, President Duterte has called on the United States and other allies to start a dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and convince him to stop threatening the world with nuclear weapons.
The President said the United States, Japan, and South
Korea must give an assurance to North Korea that there will be “no war” and no plan to remove its sovereign leader from power.
“A nuclear war is totally unacceptable to everybody and somebody has to talk to Kim Jong-un,” Duterte said before leaving Davao City for his threeday visit to Tokyo, Japan last night.
“It would be good if America, Japan, Korea and Mr. Kim Jong-un to talk and to convince him to sit down on a round table and just tell him nobody’s threatening him, that there will be no war and that if he could just tone down or stand down, stop the threats,” he said.
Duterte insisted that the countries involved in the standoff on the Korean peninsula must give a “guarantee that no threat in the offing or there is no plan at all really to remove” Kim.
He said while world leaders have agreed that Kim is a “dangerous man,” he must still be recognized as “the leader of his people.”
The President has pushed for restraint on the fiery of exchange “rhetoric” among concerned parties in a bid to ease the tension in the Korean peninsula. Duterte’s remarks came amid growing concern over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and increasing threats to attack the US and its allies.
Duterte also appealed to the US to show restraint on the North Korean issue, saying it must assure Kim that “America is not ready to about to destroy a generation or a nation of people.”
At present, the President said nobody was talking to the North Korean leader for talks. He acknowledged that China could be the “single country that can calm him down.”
“Whether or not, whatever he proclaims himself to be, somebody has to talk to him,” he said. “We are not stopping you forcefully but it would be good, it would go a long way if there is a somebody whom you can talk to and these are the countries who would make a difference,” he added.
Meantime, the North Korean issue and counter-terrorism would be high on the agenda of the meeting between Duterte and US President Trump next month.
Duterte said he also plans to seek closer Philippine-US cooperation in battling terrorism and illegal drug trafficking in the region, apart from discussing regional security in light of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The US leader is scheduled to attend a regional summit in Manila on November 12 and 13.
Duterte said he would welcome Trump to country and listen to what he has to say, adding his response would be “calibrated.”