Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insists US seeking diplomatic resolution to crisis
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphasized Tuesday the U. S. seeks a peaceful resolution to escalating tensions with North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s claim that a tweet by President Donald Trump on Monday was tantamount to a declaration of war.
In New Delhi for talks with Indian officials about strengthening U. S.-India ties, Mattis said that while the U. S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula is necessary to deter North Korea’s threats, it also supports diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully.
„And that is our goal, to solve this diplomatically, and I believe President Trump has been pretty clear on this issue,“ Mattis said, following a meeting with India’s defense minister.
On Monday, President Donald Trump commented on Twitter that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime “won’t be around much longer” if the North carried out its recent threats.
Speaking to reporters near United Nations headquarters in New York, North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho said, “given the fact that this comes from someone who is currently holding the seat of United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war.“
The foreign minister added that the United Nations and the whole world should clearly remember that it was the U. S. who first declared war on our country.“
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Ri’s characterization of the tweet „absurd.“
„We’ve not declared war on North Korea,“ she said.
Bona fide crisis
Although North Korea has declared “war” many times in the past, now “we’ve entered a bona fide crisis,” Van Jackson, senior lecturer in international relations at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, tells VOA.
“Even if we’re not in a war right now, we seem to be doing everything in our power to make one happen by actions and statements that make deterrence more likely to fail,” says Jackson, a former director for Korea policy and a defense strategy advisor at the U. S.
