Senior U. S. national security officials said Sunday that a military confrontation with North Korea’s is not imminent, but they cautioned that the possibility of war is greater than it was…<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON (AP) – Senior U. S. national security officials said Sunday that a military confrontation with North Korea’s is not imminent, but they cautioned that the possibility of war is greater than it was a decade ago.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, tried to provide assurances that a conflict is avoidable, while also supporting Trump’s tough talk. They said the United States and its allies no longer can afford to stand by as North Korea pushes ahead with the development of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.
\u00ab\u00a0We’re not closer to war than a week ago but we are closer to war than we were a decade ago, \u00a0\u00bb McMaster said, adding that the Trump administration is prepared to deal militarily with North Korea if necessary.
But he stressed that the U. S. is pursuing \u00ab\u00a0a very determined diplomatic effort\u00a0\u00bb led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that’s coupled with new financial sanctions to dissuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from further provocations.
\u00ab\u00a0The U. S. military is locked and loaded every day, \u00a0\u00bb McMaster said, repeating Trump’s threat.
Pompeo said \u00ab\u00a0there’s nothing imminent today, \u00a0\u00bb in response to a question about how worried should people be over the escalating tensions. He said the U. S. has a \u00ab\u00a0pretty good idea\u00a0\u00bb of North Korea’s intentions, but Pompeo declined to provide specifics. The CIA chief described Kim as \u00ab\u00a0rational\u00a0\u00bb and responsive to \u00ab\u00a0adverse circumstances.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0The reaction in North Korea that we are intending to get is an is an understanding that America is no longer going to have the strategic patience that it’s had that has permitted him to continue to develop his weapons program, \u00a0\u00bb Pompeo said. \u00ab\u00a0It’s that straightforward.\u00a0\u00bb
The top U. S. military officer, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, is traveling in Asia and expected to meet with leaders in South Korea, Japan and China. Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him that he aims to \u00ab\u00a0sense what the temperature is in the region.\u00a0\u00bb He also will discuss military options in the event the \u00ab\u00a0diplomatic and economic pressurization campaign\u00a0\u00bb fails.
\u00ab\u00a0We’re all looking to get out of this situation without a war, \u00a0\u00bb Dunford said.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, made a plea for cool-headedness in a phone conversation with Trump on Saturday, urging both sides to avoid words or actions that could worsen the situation.
The call came after Trump made fresh threats against North Korea on Friday, declaring the U. S. military \u00ab\u00a0locked and loaded\u00a0\u00bb and warning Kim that he \u00ab\u00a0will regret it fast\u00a0\u00bb if he takes any action against U. S. territories or allies.
Trump has pushed China to pressure North Korea to halt a nuclear weapons program that is nearing the capability of targeting the United States. China is the North’s biggest economic partner and source of aid, but says it alone can’t compel its wayward ally to end its nuclear and missile programs.
The White House said in a statement that Trump and Xi \u00ab\u00a0agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior.\u00a0\u00bb It also said that the two \u00ab\u00a0reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.\u00a0\u00bb
State-run China Central Television quoted Xi as telling Trump the \u00ab\u00a0relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula.\u00a0\u00bb
But Trump on Friday appeared to set another red line – the mere utterance of threats – that would trigger a U. S. attack against North Korea and \u00ab\u00a0big, big trouble\u00a0\u00bb for Kim.
North Korea’s Minju Joson newspaper said in an editorial Saturday that the North’s army is \u00ab\u00a0capable of fighting any war the U. S. wants.\u00a0\u00bb
The tough talk capped a week in which long-standing tensions between the countries risked abruptly boiling over.
New U. N. sanctions condemning North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear program drew fresh ire and threats from the North. Trump, responding to a report that U. S. intelligence indicates Pyongyang can now put a nuclear warhead on its long-range missiles, vowed to rain down \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury\u00a0\u00bb if challenged.
The North then came out with a threat to lob four intermediate-range \u00ab\u00a0Hwasong-12\u00a0\u00bb missiles near Guam, a tiny U. S. territory some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from the North’s capital, Pyongyang.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C., welcomed Trump’s pugnacious approach, arguing that many of the president’s critics failed to stop North Korea from developing a nuclear weapon that could hit the United States.
\u00ab\u00a0President Trump inherited a mess, \u00a0\u00bb Graham said. \u00ab\u00a0All those smart people who are criticizing his rhetoric and his policy, how well did you do?\u00a0\u00bb
Pompeo and Graham were on \u00ab\u00a0Fox News Sunday, \u00a0\u00bb and McMaster appeared on ABC’s \u00ab\u00a0This Week.\u00a0\u00bb
___
Associated Press photojournalist Andrew Harnik in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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