Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has urged the White House to be \u201cprudent and patient\u201d in dealing with North Korea\u2019s leader, Kim Jong-un, warning that \u201cthe guy simply wants to end the world.\u201d<\/b>
\n\u201cThere seems to be two countries playing with their toys and those toys are not really to entertain, \u201d Duterte said during a media briefing in Manila on Saturday.
\u201cYou know that they are playing with somebody who relishes letting go of missiles and everything. I would not want to go into his (Kim\u2019s) mind because I really do not know what\u2019s inside but he\u2019s putting mother earth, the planet to an edge, \u201d he added.
Duterte was speaking in his role as chairman of ASEAN, a group of ten South-East Asian countries that is meeting in the Philippines\u2019 capital over the weekend against a backdrop of yet another failed ballistic test that Pyongyang launched on Saturday morning. It is thought to be the country\u2019s sixth missile test this year.
\u201cThe guy (Kim) simply wants to end the world, that is why he is very happy. He is always smiling. But he really wants to finish everything and he wants to drag us all down, \u201d Duterte said.
Philippines president, famous for his rhetoric and controversial anti-drugs campaign, said that he would try to persuade his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to back down from the conflict.
\u201cI would say \u2018Mr. President, please see to it that there is no war because my region will suffer immensely,\u2019 \u201d proposed Duterte, who previously appeared to pivot away from his country\u2019s long-standing alliance with the US in favor of closer ties with China.
\u201cI will just communicate to him \u2013 \u2018Just let him play… do not play into his hands,\u2019 \u201d he added.
The US has deployed a fleet in the vicinity of North Korea, and Trump has said that a \u201cmajor, major conflict\u201d with Kim\u2019s regime is possible. At the same time, the US has been calling for \u201cpainful\u201d sanctions against North Korea and asked other countries to suspend diplomatic relations with the hermit state, which is contravening UN Security Council resolutions by continuing to develop its nuclear program and missile capability.
\u201cI am sure President Trump is cautioning his military to just maybe\u2026 not to start something which they cannot control, \u201d said Duterte.
\u201cWe have to caution everybody, including those who\u2019 d give the advice to the two players, because you have nuclear warheads, to just show restraint. One miscalculation of a missile, whether or not a nuclear warhead or an ordinary bomb, one explosion there that would hit somebody would cause a catastrophe.\u201d
Russia and China have condemned North Korea\u2019s actions, but have proposed a deal in which the US and South Korea suspend their military drills in exchange for Pyongyang halting its missile tests as a starting point for negotiations.
As of now, no talks with Kim Jong-Un\u2019s leadership are scheduled, however.<\/p>\n