OPINION | Mr. President, diplomacy is the only thing that has ever worked to slow North Korea’s nuclear efforts.
President Trump’s statement that North Korea will face “fire and fury” “like the world has never seen” if it continues to make threats against the United States is reckless and alarming. The statement is particularly troubling because it doesn’ t make it clear what conditions might prompt the president to launch a nuclear attack. Sowing uncertainty on the potential employment of nuclear weapons is extremely dangerous. In the worst case it could spark a nuclear conflict, a disastrous outcome that serves no one’s interest.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne Tillerson Tillerson avoids contact with North Korean envoy Top Russian official: US, Moscow ready to have further dialogue following sanctions Tillerson, Russian foreign minister meet in Manila: Interfax MORE sought to soothe the fears generated by Trump’s rhetoric, suggesting that is was merely a reiteration of the fact that “the United States has the capability to fully defend itself from any attack, ” not a threat to launch a nuclear first strike in response to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s words.
Trump national security adviser H. R. McMaster has asserted that the administration will “exhaust our other opportunities” before considering a military strike. And Trump’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis James Norman Mattis Trump briefed on helicopter ‘mishap’ that left 3 Marines missing Air Force purchases bankrupt Russian firm’s planes for Air Force One Dems to Mattis: Don’t comply with Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ transgender ban MORE has stated that the United States will “lead with economic and diplomatic efforts” to resolve the current crisis.
The recently passed U. N. sanctions on North Korea represent an effort to use economic pressure to get Pyongyang to roll back its nuclear program. Now is the time to add a diplomatic component to this effort.
Diplomacy is the only approach that has a chance of making a difference. As U. S. military leaders have long known, even a conventional military attack on North Korea could prompt Pyongyang to launch a massive artillery attack on the South Korean capital, Seoul, potentially causing hundreds of thousands of casualties.
