Separately, US think-tank says North Korea sanctions-skirting network could be defeated by targeting China firms.
North Korea’s advancing missile and nuclear programmes are the “most urgent and dangerous” threat to US national security, US defence secretary Jim Mattis said.
Mattis said the “most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security is North Korea”, adding that its “continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has increased in pace and scope”, a statement he has made in the past.
The US focus on North Korea has been sharpened by dozens of missile launches and two nuclear tests since the start of 2016 and by Pyongyang’s vow to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.
“The regime’s nuclear weapons programme is a clear and present danger to all, and the regime’s provocative actions, manifestly illegal under international law, have not abated despite the United Nations’ censure and sanctions, ” Mattis said in a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee on Monday.
Earlier this month, the UN Security Council expanded targeted sanctions against North Korea after its repeated missile tests, adopting the first such resolution agreed by the United States and China since President Donald Trump took office.
Pyongyang slammed the latest round of sanctions as “mean”.
Mattis, speaking before the panel, warned of the potential losses in the case of conflict with North Korea.
READ MORE: What we know about North Korea’s nuclear weapons
“It would be a war like nothing we have seen since 1953 and we would have to deal with it with whatever level of force was necessary … It would be a very, very serious war, ” Mattis said, referring to the Korean war, which ended in 1953 and killed more than a million civilians.
