U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, shake hands at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. In an explicit warning to North Korea, U. S. Defense Secretary Mattis on Friday said any use of nuclear weapons by the North on the United States or its allies would be met with what he called an „effective and overwhelming“ response. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
(The Associated Press)
U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. In an explicit warning to North Korea, U. S. Defense Secretary Mattis on Friday said any use of nuclear weapons by the North on the United States or its allies would be met with what he called an „effective and overwhelming“ response. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
(The Associated Press)
SEOUL, South Korea – In an explicit warning to North Korea, U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has asserted that any use of nuclear weapons by the North on the United States or its allies would be met with what he called an „effective and overwhelming“ response.
U. S. defense secretaries have long offered assurances to South Korea and Japan that the American nuclear „umbrella“ will protect them, but Mattis’s statement was perhaps more pointed than most. He made the remarks during an appearance with his South Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Han Min Koo.
„North Korea continues to launch missiles, develop its nuclear weapons program, and engage in threatening rhetoric and behavior,“ Mattis said with Han standing at his side and U. S. and South Korean flags at their backs.
