Questions loom as Mattis visits North Korea

His second trip comes at critical juncture in crisis

BANGKOK — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is visiting the Korean Peninsula at a momentous juncture in the faltering effort to persuade Pyongyang to halt and dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Ominous questions hang in the air.

Is diplomacy failing? Is war approaching?

Mattis’ second trip as Pentagon boss to Seoul will take place Friday, following his consultations with Asian partners on a unified approach to resolve the North Korea crisis.

In the Philippines, his Japanese counterpart spoke darkly of an “unprecedented, critical and imminent” threat posed by the North’s repeated demonstrations of its ability to launch an intercontinental-range missile, potentially armed with a nuclear warhead. Twice, in August and September, North Korean missiles overflew Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.

As North Korea’s capabilities rush toward putting the U.S. mainland in range, Mattis has stuck to a diplomacy and pressure campaign led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The goal is to compel the North to a complete and irreversible removal of its nuclear arsenal.

“Everyone is out for a peaceful resolution. No one’s rushing for war,” Mattis said Wednesday on a flight to Thailand. From there, he is traveling on to South Korea.

But there are increasing suggestions of possible military confrontation. Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said last week, “We are in a race to resolve this short of military action,” adding, “We are running out of time.”

Michael Swaine, a longtime Asia specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that while he is hopeful of averting conflict, “I don’t see any clear signs that there is progress in either coercing the North Koreans into starting to talk about denuclearization or finding some other path toward some kind of engagement with North Korea.”

“Recent months have shown a worsening of the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea that is very troubling to me,” he said in an interview.

President Donald Trump will visit South Korea next month. Aides say he will not travel to the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems undaunted by threats and unresponsive to diplomatic overtures. He has traded insults with Trump and kept his country marching — some say speeding — toward a capability to strike any U.S. city with a nuclear weapon. Trump has said he will never allow the North to reach that point.